Chaos Of Two Worlds
by Gabriella Adella
Summary: The demigods won the war and everyone is happy. Except Percy. His little sister, Mira, was killed while he was at Camp Jupiter. When he discovers the secret of her death, he leaves Camp. From there he disappears. But is Mira really dead? And where did Percy go? The answers are in Brooklyn...
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAMIER: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS, HEROS OF OLYMPUS, OR THE KANE CHORNICLES **

Chaos Of Two Worlds

Chapter One~The Army of Dyslexic, ADHD, Almost Pshyco Teens Returns to Camp

So how 'bout we start this story off back in the USA? Yes...no...maybe so? Fine don't talk, I'll tell the story on my own. Europe was nice, except for the monster army trying to kill us. And the Romans almost killing all of the Campers in New York. Apologies after that, which some people *cough cough * Clarisse*cough *said almost killed them. About twelve or thirteen giants, yet again, trying to kill us (you forget how to count in life or death situations you know). After all of that we had an angry primordial on our hands who was, guess what, trying to _kill us. _Anyone else notice a pattern there?

So basically we have a lot of enemies. What (small) army of dyslexic, ADHD, almost pshyco teens doesn't? Then add the 'half blood' part into that and you get a very unique group of people. Unique, there's really not another word for it. Well there probably is if you ask my girlfriend Anabeth.

We had just returned to Camp Half Blood (the war was a success, by the way) and were showing the unfamiliar half bloods around. Jason and Piper had a big group following them around as they pointed out cabins, bathrooms, showers, the Big House, and everything else. Jason was a good kid, and a good leader. Our first meeting had caused some sparks (literally) just cause he was leading my friends and I was leading his. Reyna had kinda lost it when he introduced his girlfriend Piper. But just for a second, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one who noticed. And then of course the Argo II started firing on Camp Jupiter and well yeah, our friendship kinda went down from there until it hit an all time low in a wheat field and then started to pick up. The two of us together were practically unstoppable, and when we added Nico into the mix, well yeah the giants never stood a chance. That was after I manged to escape Tartarus which I don't want to talk about. I'll just tell you one thing, it is the bottom of 'Worst Places to Take a Vacation, Accedentially End Up In, and Avoid at All Costs' list.

I was slacking off yeah, I should be showing some of the Romans around or explaining how things work here but I wanted to check something first. I'd been gone from this place for almost a year, counting all that time I was asleep and my time in Europe and in the definiton of darkness with nightmares sprinkled in. I walked down to the original cabins, heading straight for the third one. I opened the door and took a deep breath. It smelled exactly like the ocean, sea salt and everything. Tyson had been taking good care of our cabin. All the beds were made, my cloths were all still in the dresser, only now they were folded. There wasn't trash on the floor and he'd made some pretty cool decorations. Coral and shells lined the window sill. There was a magically animated picture on the wall of an aquarium.

"Woah," I spun around to see Reyna in the door. She'd ditched her Praetors outfit for casual clothes now. Even during the battle she'd still worn that cape and everything. Now she just wore a purple tank top and black running shorts. Her hair was pulled back and she still had her sword with her but this was a big step for her. She noticed me staring. "The Ven-Aphrodite cabin got me," she said with a grimace. "And they're enchanted, I can't take this stuff off till ten pm. Gods I hate their guts right about now. Shame only a few of them are interested in training, I could kick their butts. Remind me again, why do you keep them around if they aren't useful?"

"They get attacked by monsters too. And they are useful, they just don't act like it until your in a battle. Trust me, they were worth all the fashion criticism back in the Second Titan War."

"Okay, so this is your cabin?"

"Yeah, pretty nice, huh?"

"Way better than the bunks back at Camp Jupiter. But you have to share even though you're in charge of this cabin right?"

"I only have two siblings. Tyson and Mira aren't always here though. So I pretty much get the whole place to myself. Now are you jealous? I think it beats the Praetors houses. Can you believe you almost destroyed it? Or tried to? The Stolls never would have let you past Thalia's Pine." Mira was my little sister. She was fourteen last I saw her but her birthday was over the summer. Now I know what your thinking. She's either a little whiny brat or she's arrogant and stuck up and takes all the credit for things she didn't do. I am proud to tell you both of those are wrong. Mira's super sweet, extremely energetic, and pretty smart. She's not always around cause her situation is pretty unique.

"Maybe just a little. And can we not bring that up, my hands were kinda tied. And the Stolls are...?" She admitted while looking pretty sheepish and guilty.

"The sons of Mercury who look like twins but aren't. Heads up, watch any valuables you have. They'll probably targer your medals. And I'm just teasing," I said with a smile. "You're gonna have to learn sarcasm to live here without challenging most of the Camp to a duel for honnor in the first week."

"Ne-Posideon's a lot bigger deal here. They all seem to respect you." Reyna said, chaning topics. I didn't notice at first that she hadn't asked at all about my sister. "Even the Roman soldiers."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just glad to be home. I can't believe Mira's not here to greet me." I had been a major leader in the Giant war and I guess that Chiron had been bragging about me while I was gone cause all the Roman soldiers seemed to know all of my quests. And they seemed pretty impressed by the whole 'Savior of Olympus' thing. Me still being mortal shocked them though. And Reyna chose to comment on that.

"That name's familiar..."she trailed off with a frown. "But anywyas this question has been bugging me, why turn it down? That's not very-"

"Roman of me? I know. Remember I am Greek." I chose not to respond to her question. I was saved by the conch shell blowing. "C'mon that means dinner." I told her. I dumped my back pack on my bed and shut the door behind us. We jogged up to the Big House where I was met with a stream of campers who'd been left behind. The Argo II couldn't hold half of a fraction of everyone after all. In fact it had only held the prophecy seven plus one very very responsible half goat chaparone. I gave out high fives and fist bumps and quick greetings as we pushed into the Mess Hall.

"Now listen up!" Chiron commanded while stomping a hoof. "Welcome to all of you who completed the Quest and Congradulations! To you late commers and Romans who are spending your first night here tonight," apparently Octavian had led group of Romans who refused to set foot in Camp Half Blood, well until they got attacked and Jason returned guranting Camp was safe. "We have a slightly different system of running things here at Camp Half Blood. You will be required to eat and bunk with your cabin mates. Please seperate into your parent or grandparents cabins now." There was a lot of commotion as they all split about and tried to find the different cabins. The line started to form behind me. Jason sheepishly came up behind me.

"Your first man," I told him.

"It just doesn't feel right. Its your home. Besides its not like I'm at the end of the line."

"Your loss." I started through the buffet grabbing a little of everything. Man did the nymphs know how to cook. I went back to the Posideon table and waited for everyone to grab their food. The nymphs had added another table to account for the Romans we brought. All of Camp Jupiter was a lot of people. Anabeth passed by me on her way to the Athena table. I winked at her and she blew a kiss. She'd been mad about me disappearing at first but she got over it fast. Basically she'd found someone else to blame, Hera. A stream of her siblings followed behind her.

The Hunters of Artemis took their place at their seldom used table. We'd also managed to find them in Europe and team up, despite many protests. Thalia slugged me as she passed by.

"Hey pinecone face, I hope that means your anxious for Capture the Flag tonight."

"You bet Seaweed Brain. We haven't lost in hundreds of years. A few Roman's doesn't make a difference."

"You're on then," I yelled back as she sat down. You could tell who the Romans were because they were trailing behind their half siblings like lost children. Reyna nervously sat down with her two siblings as they started talking to her. She was obviously out of her element. Frank and Clarisse were getting right along. He seemed to be discussing battle strategies with her. At least he was on her good side. Hazel was with Nico and them seemed to be having a good time. That reminded me that I needed to kick his butt for not telling me about Camp Jupiter, even though I'd forgiven him. Tyson joined me at our table and brought Ella with him. I smiled, she was as nervous as always but I was glad Tyson was happy with her. I lead the camp up to offer food to our parents and then started digging in.

It had taken a bit of explaining at first but the Romans had caught on to Capture the Flag fast. They just didn't like the whole 'sort by parents' thing. They'd get used to it. The Hunters hadn't been allowed to claim the blue team all for themselves. Instead they were allowed to pick for themselves. You'd think they'd all stick together, but when Thalia joined the red team (Jason's team) the rest of them had picked their own path.

We got a good chunk of them because they were rivals with Hermes and Apollo cabins who were Reds. The teams were Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, Ares, and Dynious plus some minor cabins. Against Poseidon, Athena, Hades, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, the majority of the Hunters, and some minor cabins. I'm still working on memorizing the names of other gods. We got Reyna's cabin plus Hecate though so that was good.

After we planted out flag at our usual spot, Zeus's Fist, we started a quick strategy meeting. Anabeth and Reyna ran it and boy were they effective. They got a battle plan totally sorted out in under a two minutes. That is impressive, and they agreed. That was also impressive. Reyna had kinda given Anabeth a cold shoulder at first. I figured out fast it was cause I was taken and Reyna kinda liked me. It was like Rachel and Wise Girl all over again.

"Reyna and I will lead the offensive okay? We'll take two small groups around separate ways and ambush the Reds flag. Percy and Piper, you two are going to stick together and guard the flag. When Thalia and Jason show up they are your responsibilities. Okay? As soon as they're taken care of feel free to charge the Reds. Cause a distraction, do what ever. Piper make them do the Hokey Pokey for all I care. Leo, you set up defensive booby traps, start on it now. Take your siblings. When your done your all on guard duty. Reyna and I will come around and pick our groups now. Nico, your with me. Your our emergency back up plan, got it? So don't get tired and don't get caught."

"We'll also have a strong distraction force. I want all the Aphrodite kids in it, turn up the charm. Any weapon you've got, use it. Hecate your with them too. Any Athena kid not pulled by Anabeth or I, you join the distraction. Demeter your on guard duty. Percy your in charge of the guards while your back. When you come up take charge of the distraction. Okay everyone get to your positions."

A group of demigods formed up around me. I'm not the planning kind of person so I just set up a perimeter. We had a good number of people on guard duty. I spaced them out enough to make it look like we were short handed. That was my plan, I know Anabeth would be ashamed. She'd disappeared even though the conch horn hadn't sounded yet. A few seconds later it did.

"I'll take Jason," Piper said. I knew she could wrap him around her little finger.

"Thalia's mine then. I'm not so sure they'll come though."

"Trust me, he will. The poor guy doesn't strategize well. Just see a goal and go for it."

"Yeah well Thalia still wants to beat the crap out of me from the last time we played Capture the Flag together. Back before she was a Hunter. Apparently I messed up her 'brilliant plan to win' and she never really got revenge for it." Piper laughed at me. Her laugh is really pretty. Not that I would ever tell Anabeth about that. I might be a sea weed brain but I know you don't say that kinda stuff in front of your girlfriend.

I glanced back behind us at the blue flag sticking out of Zeus's fist. I knew Jason could fly. I didn't want to be taken by surprise. I had also checked to make sure it wasn't in a shadow. I know Nico was on our team but it never hurts to be cautious.

"Here they come," Piper said. I could see two figures making their way through the trees, not trying to hide themselves. Piper stepped back into the shadow of the rock. I knew she was going to take Jason by surprise. I had met her, Leo, and Jason when they came to Camp Jupiter. We'd grown closer throughout several battles in Greece. Jason was a lot like me, only he looked somewhat like Thalia. Jason was the first one to come out of the woods.

"You call that 'guarding' Percy?" He asked.

"I'm sorry we don't march at Camp Half Blood and have sentry duty. Now shut up, I've got a flag to defend."

"Not for much longer!" Thalia promised.

"Want to bet? I can take you both." Jason stepped back for a moment. Then he relaxed. I understood he felt on edge because even though I was gone Camp Half Blood had remained so loyal to me. They all thought I could take Jason hands down. Don't get me wrong, Jason is confident and a good leader. But when your soldiers keep bringing up their last leader and saying how much better he was. Well it gets to your brain. Not to mention that the Romans still considered me a Praetor and they had started to love me right when Jason came back. It must have hurt him.

"Your on Kelp Head."

"Shut up Pinecone face."

"Well if your done with the nicknames," Jason said while pouting a little.

"We can get you one."

"Stapler Eater!" Thalia suggested.

"I thought you were on my side?" Jason asked her.

"Good point."

Thalia pulled out a short sword she used for close combat. She dropped her bow and quiver on the ground. The arrows rattled about. And then she charged me. We started out with just a pure fight, swords only. Jason joined in a moment later. I was really on my toes trying to keep two children of Zeus/Jupiter from getting the flag and running off. I started to go after Thalia more. Jason saw and took advantage of it. He sprinted past me, heading straight at the flag. I ignored him, I knew Piper would get him.

Thalia charged her sword with electricity, trying to end the fight. I felt the tug in my gut as I shot a small spout of water at her. She yelped as the shock traveled through the water to her. I put Riptide's point up to her neck just in case. Then I grabbed her hunting knife from her and picked her other weapons up off the ground. Thalia was dazed but not knocked out. Jason had just finished climbing Zeus's Fist and stared at me with the flag fluttering above him.

"We win?" He said hopefully. I shook my head.

"You gotta cross the stream," I informed him. He cursed. Crossing the stream, water, Son of the Sea God. He knew he was screwed. And that was when Piper dropped down off the rock and landed on his back. To Jason's credit, he didn't fall over and land on his butt. He did drop the flag though. Piper began to whisper in his ear. Jason didn't resist her for very long. I called the guards in with a signal and they formed a tighter perimeter around the base of Zeus's Fist. Piper and I walked Thalia and Jason to our prison where seven or eight other demigods were.

It was a miniature cave without a roof. There was a single bench that made a 'U' around the inside. They all jumped to their feet when they saw the Graces and then sat back down when we appeared. We left them with the two prison guards who would search them for any extra weapons.

"PIPER!" Jason yelled after us, finally snapping out of the trance.

"Love you too Jace!" She blew him a kiss and then turned around as he started to curse. "Lets run?" She offered. We took off sprinting for the stream.

Piper started to slow as we moved toward the stream. "C'mon," I urged her.

"I don't want to get my shoes wet!" She complained. That was the most Aphrodite-like thing I have ever heard her say. She realized how ridiculous that must have sounded and blushed with embarrassment. "Sorry some times those kinds of things just slip out."

"No worries," I told her as I solidified a strip of water to make a bridge. Piper gasped.

"I guess I don't know everything you can do."

"Nope," I confirmed. "Now c'mon. This is my first game of Capture the Flag in like a year. I am not losing."

**AN: Not your typical Chaos story. I'm setting up the story now, giving some back round. I've never liked it where Percy sees Anabeth cheat on him and one paragraph later he leaves. I promise the action will come soon. And Chaos won't be incorporated the way you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or the Kane Chronicles (when I bring those characters in)**

Chapter Two~Gone, Wait, Gone as in Dead? (Duh Percy)

Piper and I joined our team in creating an amazling distracting distraction. We were up against a slightly larger force but we held our own and then kicked butt. When Piper and I joined in we started to push the Ares cabin back toward their flag. Clarisse got mad at me for almost breaking her spear. The Stolls pick pocketed Piper before I disarmed them. Pretty stupid of them huh? She mad them do the chicken dance, the hokey pokey, and then sing I'm A Little Teapot. No she was not fighting while she videotaped them. We covered her though. Even while laughing I was taking down other campers left and right. Our forces fell in behind me and we pushed toward the flag.

I know, I know, Anabeth was supposed to get it. But I hadn't seen her yet (yeah I know she has that hat) and we were creaming the other team. We came upon the blue banner and surrounded it. Now normally one of us would have grabbed it and made a mad dash back to the creek. With or without cover fire. After spending a short while with the Romans though I was inclined to retrieve it as a team and then just march back to the creek like an unstoppable army.

I saw the Ares kids getting their weapons back though. That settle it. Plus it reminded me where I was, Camp Half Blood not Camp Jupiter. It was okay to take off and leave your team mates. Cause we would. "Blues follow Piper. Cover my retreat!" I yelled as I grabbed the Red banner and started sprinting. A cheer rose up behind me as I took off. I could hear Piper already taking control of everyone.

I could feel them behind me. Over one hundred kids running right next to you really shakes the ground. Especially for me, the son of the Earth shaker and all. Not that I use those powers on a regular basis. But to defeat Gaia I had used them more than once. Was it as catastrophic (note to self: tell Anabeth I used that word) as Mt. St. Helen's? No comment.

The Stoll brothers popped up in front of me again but Piper had my back. "I'm not done with you yet." She promised them as I ran by. The creek was just ahead of me and the field was clear. I ran straight through it and felt a surge of energy as the mist sprayed my face. And then I stopped on the edge of the creek. The Blue side. I planted the Red banner in the ground as it shimmered and the symbol of Poseidon appeared.

"Go Percy!"

"Heck yeah man."

"Blue team wins!"

The shouts filled the air as Chiron trotted over. "Nice to see you haven't lost your touch Percy." He patted me proudly on the back. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen him in eight months. "The Blues are the victors, release your prisoners and come to the camp fire to celebrate." Chiron turned to...trot away? I guess. But I caught him.

"Nice to see you again."

"You too Percy, Camp has not been the same."

"Aww you couldn't have missed me that much. Besides, you had Mira. She's me, only a girl!" Chiron froze at the sound of her name. My stomach dropped and I felt sick.

"Where is she?" I whispered feeling sudden dread. I could have guessed what was coming next.

"I'm so sorry Percy."

"She's gone then?" Chiron bowed his head instead of answering. I stood there for a moment in shock and then pulled Riptide back out. I slashed the straps on my armor. As soon as the last piece fell to my feet I took off running for the beach. I heard people calling for me in the background but I ignored them all. I got to the beach and ran straight for the water. I didn't even bother kicking off my shoes or anything. It didn't matter.

The icy sea water encased me as I swam. Like always I was still perfectly dry. The fish were smart and gave me a wide berth. I tried to lose myself but those directions kept popping up in my head. I was close by to where we used to came when we wanted to calm down or clear our thoughts. It wasn't anything spectacular, just a small ledge to look out into the ocean as it got deeper. I had started to head toward it without even thinking.

I knew it would offer more pain than comfort today though. I'd never be able to clear my thoughts. Gone, that didn't have to mean dead. But Chiron wasn't cruel enough to mess with my emotions and hopes. Mira was gone. But how, a monster? No she's too powerful. A giant? Maybe. And also when? How long ago was it? And why hadn't Anabeth told me? That would explain why I didn't see her in Greece though. She would have come and fought, Camp handled the Romans perfectly fine without her. Right? Unless one of them, oh gods. If that was what happened I think I'm going to be sick for the rest of my life.

There was only one spot where my questions could be answered. So I turned around and headed back to shore. I stepped back onto the beach in under a minute. My desire for information had sped me up considerably. There was a group waiting for me on the beach. Anabeth, Grover, Juniper, Clarisse, Connor, Travis, and Katie. All of them were old friends.

"Okay so what happened?" I asked as sat next to Anabeth.

Cue dramatic chimes music for flashback!

Shortly After the End of The Last Olympian

_We were playing Capture the Flag. Anabeth and I had gotten into a small fight and for the first time in a long time, we weren't on the same team. The Aphrodite Cabin was making a super big deal out of it. Something about jeopardizing our relationship and all. The Ares Cabin saw it as a challenge, see which one of 'the power couple' (Drew's name for us) was more powerful. Anabeth and I weren't fighting anymore but neither one of us wanted to admit we were wrong. We made a bet about who would win. The loser had to apologize._

_I knew I probably would apologize either way. Camp was extended an extra two weeks in the summer. Unfortunately that ended in one week. I didn't want Anabeth to go back to California (she was returning for a short while to be with her Dad) and be mad at me or anything. I was looking forward to going back home though. Hecate had put some protection spells up around Mom and Paul's new house as a favor. It would make it impossible for monsters to find me at home. That was good because I wouldn't want to endanger my little sister._

_We aren't related by blood. Emme is Paul's niece and she lost her parents in the fight for Manhattan. Paul became her guardian and she moved in with them. She's five and absolutely adorable according to Mom. She calls her Auntie Sally. I've only met her once and she just started calling me brother so I went with it. She actually is really cute. She has bright blue eyes and light brown hair that's always up in pigtails. Her face is the one that always draws old ladies in the park. You know like 'isn't she sweet' or 'the cutest thing!' where they just kind of fawn over her._

"_Hey Seaweed Brain! Want to apologize and join the winning team while you still can?" Anabeth was standing across the creek from me holding her knife, a banner with an owl on it, and dressed in battle armor._

"_No way. We're going to win. I'll offer the same thing to you though." She laughed at me. Chiron explained the rules again and then we split up. As we walked back to Zeus's Fist the trident on our banner disappeared and the whole banner turned blue. I had Hermes, Hephaestus, Apollo, Hecate, and Ares. Oh and then Nico. So the Reds were Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter and the rest of the minor gods. The Hunters were already gone so no one had them. I left the strategies to Will from Apollo and just did what I was told. Well anyways I ended up with the Red flag running back toward the stream. How I got there is pretty simple, we charged._

_Anyways I saw Anabeth across the border running towards me. I wasn't good at math but I knew and she knew that she was going to beat me. I was too far away to get control of the steam. I was still working on my range, its better now than before the war but this was too much for me._

_Anabeth was in the stream when it happened. She froze and then started to walk backwards. I realized the water itself was pushing her back. I stopped in my tracks and just watched dumbstruck. A wave rose from the stream, towering over Anabeth. And then it crashed down on her head. I was on the edge of the stream just watching. I knew this wasn't me and I hadn't figured out what it meant yet. The water ran back into the stream but a funnel enclosed Anabeth. It was like a miniature tornado formed around her. When it died down Anabeth's shadow stood up and spun around her like it was tying her up._

"_What the heck? Percy! Nico! Come out and fight me!" The shadow went back to where it belong. Anabeth was still holding the blue flag. When she saw me on the other side of the stream she tried to cross again. This time she was interrupted by a girl. She was dressed like she was going to play Volleyball or something. Black running shorts, aqua tank top, purple Nikes. Her black hair flew out behind her. She came charging straight at Anabeth from the Blue side of the stream. Then she tackled her in the water. The water rose up around her and she used it to sweep the Blue flag back to shore. Anabeth stood and drew her knife. The girl pulled a medallion off her necklace. _

_Her arm slashed to the side like she was holding a sword. Then a moment later she was. It was Celestial Bronze, but it had an extra glow to it, like it was something more. It was Riptide's size. I actually thought it was Riptide until I remembered it was in my hand. The new girl was good, no doubt about it. She easily pushed Anabeth back to shore and then disarmed her. I raced over the stream to see who she was but I was stopped by Chiron._

"_The Blue team is the victor!" He announced. I realized I still had the Red flag. I felt like an idiot. The fighter held out a hand to Anabeth and pulled her back onto her feet. "Wow," Anabeth said. Then, "who are you?"_

"_Mira."_

"_Mira?"_

"_The one and only."_

"_I've never heard of a half blood named Mira."_

"_Well I just got here. So now you know."_

"_Whose your parent?" _

"_Whose who's parent?" Nico asked as he appeared beside us. _

"_Little late," Clarisse told him. "Anabeth's butt just got kicked by the newest camper. Meet Mira." _

"_So who **is** your parent?" I asked, very curious now._

"_I already asked that question Seaweed brain." Anabeth was fuming. I had no idea what was wrong with her but something had ticked her off. "Besides she can't know. No one ever knows when they come to Camp."_

"_I actually do know," Mira offered._

"_Then why didn't you say so?" Anabeth snapped._

"_I just did."_

"_Well then who are they? Don't make us wait for you. This is only the third time we've asked."_

"_Anabeth, calm down. What's the matter?"_

"_Shut up Percy. I want Mira to answer this question."_

"_Well I would if you didn't keep interrupting me." Mira stated calmly. I was amazing she wasn't growling at Anabeth. Anabeth was being a jerk and she didn't even know Mira._

"_Well then c'mon. Whose your parent?"_

"_I am." I spun around to see Hera standing there. There was an audible gasp from the campers. A moment later the air shimmered beside her as Dad appeared._

"_We agreed that I could introduce Mira, or did you forget Hera?"_

"_You took too long! I was just being a good mother." Zeus flashed in a moment later followed by Hades. Amphitrite and Persephone joined their husbands. My...step mom I guess shot me a nasty look. She smiled at Mira though. Mira cringed as soon as the gods looked away._

"_They said they'd stay out of this," she murmured sadly. Meanwhile there was an argument taking place between the Big Three. They looked about ready to start a fight. In fact Zeus had just pulled out his Master Bolt when Mira shouted "ENOUGH!"_

_They all stopped to look at her. She was dead, I thought. And then my brain started working again. Hera tried to claim her. Hera, she obviously had some favor with the Olympians. No way were they going to kill her._

"_You promised after the war I could come to Camp and participate. Be seen, make some friends, at least talk to some one other than my brother. And you said I could come **alone **and introduce **myself." **Mira folded her arms across her chest. I noticed her sword had disappeared._

"_Its tradition for us to claim our children when they pass the border." Zeus said matter of factually._

"_And I suppose all six of you had to come? Not that I'm upset but you kinda made this a big deal."_

"_It is a big deal." Hera stated. "I will not have my daughter claimed by a floating symbol." She shot a dirty look at Poseidon._

"_You aren't supposed to have a daughter," Amphitrite retorted._

"_Well he wasn't supposed to have a son!" _

"_Silence." Zeus said simply. The two fell silent, still staring daggers at each other. "Heroes, meet my-" _

"_You mean our?" Hades said icily._

"_Yes, our daughter. Mira. She will be joining you at camp." How could six people, three couples, all have the same daughter? That seemed impossible, but then again I was living a myth. _

"_Thanks for the introduction Dad. You guys can go home now. I'll be safe here." Zeus opened his mouth to speak, "yes I have my pass key. Its only like a week. Besides Empire State is only a couple miles away." She stepped up and gave Zeus a hug. "Bye Mom," she said cheerily as she gave a quick hug to Hera. Mira moved on before Hera had the chance to say anything._

_She did practically the same thing with Hades and Poseidon. 'I know how to shadow travel' and 'the sea is right over there'. She was careful to give each of them about the same amount of time. I watched kind of dumbstruck, still trying to figure out how she had six parents._

_The gods flashed away after Mira assured them for the sixth time that she could take care of herself, she was fourteen now, she knew how to fight, this place was safe, and all the rest of that stuff. Then she turned back to us._

"_Gosh, sorry about that. They promised not to come with me. Should have made them swear." She shrugged her shoulders. I got a good look at her face for the first time now. She had tanned skin, a small straight nose, two dimples, and bright green eyes. Almost neon green, the color of new grass. Just a couple shades lighter than mine._

"_Okay right, well how about I start over. Hi I'm Mira, daughter of the Three." I had a feeling I wasn't the only one with a dropped jaw. _

"_I am hallucinating," Anabeth stated clearly._

"_Of course not! I'm real, seems impossible right? Well you see I appeared on Olympus when I was only a few days old. Apollo couldn't see my past or my future. They could tell I was a demigod though, a powerful one. Big Three material. Only none of them remembered having a daughter, or at least not recently. Since there was no way to prove my parentage they all tried to claim me._

"_You can't blame them, okay? They all seem like horrible parents but you know they really do love you guys. Even if its from a distance. And since I didn't break the pact and they all wanted kids again...well, it was win-win. You know? I almost started a war. So Athena stepped in and made the compromise. All six of them could claim me, and I'd spend my time with every Olympian. One month per god, except Zeus and Hera. They share April. And I my other two Moms share months with their husbands." Mira was staring at the ground now. I could tell she was uncomfortable with this all. She'd just opened up a lot to us._

"_Welcome to Camp, I'm Percy son of Poseidon Your brother...I guess?" I didn't really know what to do after that but Mira threw her arms around me. She stepped back a second later. She looked back to normal, or what I thought was normal for her. Energetic, bouncy, in charge (just a little), and the center of attention on her own. She was mobbed by demigods. The Aphrodite Cabin wanted to compliment her on her out fit choice, Apollo Cabin wanted to know if she played basketball, Athena Cabin just wanted to know more about her in general._

_We were slowly making our way toward the Amphitheater. When we got there Mira sat down and the two benches around her were instantly filled. Nico hung back with me. He looked upset. I hadn't even seen him say hi to her._

"_You should at least try to talk to her." I told him._

"_She's not my sister. Children of Hades are outcasts, besides I bet she'll just play up her connection to Poseidon and Zeus." Boy was he wrong. Mira was telling the Athena Cabin about growing up on Olympus. Apparently she'd never left home except to go to the Underworld._

"_Which reminds me, Dad told me I have a brother."_

"_Yeah you met him," Drew butted in. Of course Drew would be one of the ones who always ignores Nico. She pushed one of the Athena kids over so she could sit next to Mira. Mira frowned for a milisecond and then went back to smiling._

"_No, Dad is Hades. He's always talking about Nico. I really wanted to meet him. I guess he isn't here today though."_

"_Why would you want to meet Nico? He's a freak. He wears black." Drew informed her. Mira had been staring at the ground but now she looked up. _

"_Black goes with anything." She stated. "I'm wearing black right now. So I guess, if I can find him, I'll just go join my freak brother." She got up and walked away from Drew. Nico stared in shock. Mira was making her way back between the aisle toward us. She convinced the Athena Cabin to stay back, probably promising to study math or something with them tomorrow. _

"_Hey Percy." She plopped down on the bench beside me. The fire was five rows of benches in front of us but it was huge. Almost big enough to roast a marshmallow from back here. She looked up front where there was sudden commotion. Drew was missing her marshmallows. She started screaming at the Stolls. "So who's your friend? I don't think I met him earlier. And I'm sorry if I did. My brain is overloaded right now trying to remember whose who from what cabin and all. You have no idea how excited I am Percy."_

"_Excited about what?"_

"_Having a brother who won't say, 'now back in Athens we used to-' that would be where I cut them off or tune them out. Oh and hey, I'm Mira. Nice to meet you." She held a hand out to Nico. _

_He looked her in the eye and then asked, "Does Dad really talk about me?"_

_Her eyes widened. "You're Nico?"_

"_Sorry if I'm not what your expected. Wouldn't want to disappoint Zeus's daughter." He said icily. _

_Mira disappeared from my sight and reappeared in between Nico and me. I scooted over to make room. It took me that long to realize she had shadow traveled. "Finally, some siblings my age! Yeah Dad talks about you all the time. 'Nico learned to shadow travel on his own' and then 'he just doubled the number of skeletons he can raise'. Honestly I thought you were going to be like eighteen by now with all you can do."_

"_You can do it all too I bet." He was still glaring at her._

"_Yeah but I had teachers." Mira and Nico went back and forth for a bit, maybe a minute. And then Nico's stomach grumbled. "Don't you guys have marshmallows?" She asked._

"_Drew hogs them all. In case you haven't noticed your BFF takes what she wants." Mira shuddered. Apparently being considered Drew's friend was a whole lot worse than a month in the Underworld. _

"_Why don't you pull the 'my parent is bigger than yours' card on her Percy?" She asked me._

"_I don't like bullying people." Mira laughed and Nico smiled, just a little bit. Then he went back to scowling at her again._

"_Man you are different from my other brothers." With a wink she pulled a bag of marshmallows out from under our bench. "Trick I picked up from Hermes. Too bad for Drew." We laughed as she popped one in her mouth. "Friends?" She asked as she offered the bag to Nico._

"_Siblings," he said with a smile. He smiled as Mira hugged him._

**AN: Alright so no this is not my first story and no this is not my first fanfiction. Critism and comments are appreciated. Oh and adding my AN at the end of my latest update is an old habbit. Umm, well I guess I'll be updating tomorrow then. I've got several chapters already typed and edited. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Kane Chronicles. (Emme and Mira are all mine though :)**

Chapter Three~The Cookie Monster, My Little Sister's War Cry, and a Duel to the Death...with Spoons!

I woke up after the dream. I groaned as I looked at my alarm clock. It was one in the morning. I glanced across the room to the bed where Mira always slept. It was empty. I had found a 'care package' from Mom when I got back to my cabin. Blue chocolate chip cookies, lots of blue candy, and then a miniature laptop (guess what color).

I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep anytime soon so I sat up and pulled the care package out from under my bed. I was curious about the laptop so I pulled it out while I started to munch on cookies. Turns out it was loaded with home made videos. I didn't need Anabeth to tell me how to hit 'play'.

The first one was of two girls standing side by side. Mira and Emme. I had taken her home after the summer to meet my mom and Paul. Emme had taken an instant liking to her. And then Mira had told her she was a cheerleader. Yeah that kinda sealed the deal. Emme liked her new sister.

The video was of one of cheers Mira had taught Emme. She always dropped by after school for an hour or more. Every single day, without fail. The laptop was a sign that Mom knew what had happened. I felt really bad for Emme. She'd lost both of her older siblings. Not both of them I guess, I was still here. I'd go back home probably tomorrow. I didn't feel like being at Camp any more.

They finished the cheer and then did some jumps and stuff. "C'mon Emme, show them your spiriting!" Mira encouraged. Emme smiled and giggled. Then Mira knelt down and sat Emme on her shoulders. Emme smiled even wider, her blue eyes filled with joy.

The video ended and it went on to the next one. Mira, Emme, Mom, and I were all playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii. Mom was actually kicking butt. Me being the klutz I was, tripped. I knocked Mira over and landed on her. Emme dissolved into giggles again. Paul, who was holding the camera, started laughing with her.

"Doggie pile!" Emme shouted gleefully as she jumped on my stomach. I grabbed her as I stood up and spun her around the room. She clinged to me for dear life as she shouted "wheeeeee!"

The screen blacked out and moved onto the next video. I came into the kitchen where Mira and Emme were making cookies. They added the blue food coloring right when I walked in.

"Why do we make the cookies blue?" Emme asked Mira.

"Because our brother thinks blue food is the best. He's like the cookie monster. You know the blue one off of Sesame Street?" Emme laughed once and then she shrieked.

"ITS THE COOKIE MONSTER!" She screamed and pointed at me with a flour covered spoon. "Save our cookies!" She cried grabbing the bowl and wrapping it tightly in her arms.

"You can't have any yet Percy, we have to bake them." Mira told me as she grabbed a cookie sheet.

"I'm not Percy, I'm the cookie monster. And I want my my cookies." I growled to add to the effect.

"Mira save our cookies!" Emme shouted. Mira grabbed a long wooden spoon off the counter. I grabbed a pair of tongs out of a drawer. And then she charged me with Emme shouting their fierce war cry of 'SAVE THE COOKIES' in the background. Mira and I had a sword fight with kitchen utensils. Paul walked into the kitchen and froze.

"Its the middle of a war zone in here."

"Run Uncle Pauly!" Emme shouted. She thought everyone's names had to end with an 'e' sound. Paul and Mira were the only two who didn't meet those requirements. Emme didn't care about Mira though. "The cookie monster will get you."

"Surrender!" Mira shouted at me as she disarmed me. We both burst out laughing. And then I rushed forward and pushed Mira out of the way. I grabbed Emme off the counter who shrieked.

"Save me Mira! Uncle Pauly! Aunt Sally! Help!" I set Emme back down and stole a bite of cookie dough from the bowl. Before I could eat it Mira jumped on my back. She snatched it back from my hand and plopped it down on the cookie sheet.

"Aww Mira!"

"Ten minutes, okay?" She said as she quickly divided the rest of the dough and placed it on the cookie sheet. She quickly put it in the over and then stood in front of it brandishing her spoon again.

"No mercy?" I asked her.

"You're on!" We laughed as we went back to our fake sword fight. Emme joined in a minute later as Mira's cheerleader. Paul rooted for me. I shut the laptop before I could see the end. I remembered those days. Karaoke night was probably the next video. I would save that for another day.

I decided to take a late night trip down to the beach. Hopefully that would help me sleep. I thought about it and then I put the laptop in a water proof bag. I threw in two Cokes and the blue food. I also found a spare change of clothes and some spare change in the bag. It must have been from one of my past quests. I didn't bother to take the stuff out. You never knew when that kinda stuff could come in handy. I remembered my second quest started on that beach with a god, two snakes, some Coke, and me of course.

I looked around, the camp was silent in the moonlight. I jogged toward the beach, weaving through Cabins. I saw the Stoll brothers outside of Demeter Cabin. I decided to remember that. I would probably find out what they were doing in the morning. I passed the sword training pavilion and froze. There were people inside. Was tonight just the night to be out and about?

There were five people inside. I heard footsteps coming up behind and and I ducked down by the edge of the pavilion. The Stolls joined the other five inside. They all sat on the ground in a circle. I realized they were the group of people who told me about the Giant killing Mira.

"Does Thalia know?" Anabeth asked. They were all talking in their normal voices now. "Or Jason? Do the Romans even know Mira? And then there's Nico."

"We need Jason in on this at least. Mira was good at hiding. Leo and Piper didn't know to look for her and they wouldn't have seen her. Jason would though. And I'd guess that they do know her." That was Connor.

"What about Sally and Paul?" Grover asked.

"The story fits. Mira left on her quest an hour before Percy arrived, Percy disappeared, Mira came back on the solstice. She turns and runs, we sent that group after her. They caught up to her in two or three days? So only the chasers knew she came back. And the heads of cabins. So Sally and Paul never saw her, never knew she was still alive when Jason dealt with the giant." Travis figured that out? That was slightly impressive. Then the message sunk in. Story? Mira running, and they sent someone after her. And they caught up to her, but what happened? The giant story was a lie.

This is crazy though. I'm dreaming. Why would my friends lie to me? Or are they lying? I couldn't tell, I wasn't here. But Jason was. And supposedly he's the one who face the giant that killed Mira? I slowly backed away from the pavilion. When I thought I was far enough away I stood up and started running.

**AN: Story's starting to get interesting right? Chaos and Brooklyn will come into play in just a few more chapters, promise. Anyways, there you go! Comment/crititque/and all that good stuff.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Kane Chronicles**

Chapter Four~I Crash a Cozy Midnight Meeting of Backstabbers-I Mean Friends

I sprinted toward Zeus Cabin. I was stopped by a fire though. I tripped and fell, still looking at the bonfire that had just appeared in surprise. "Hello Percy."

"Lady Hestia," the little preteen girl tending the fire turned to look at me.

"What ever you find out, do not forget hope resides at the hearth. And don't blame your friends, they had your best interest at mind."

"Okay...um thank you?"

"I am sorry, for what happened." Lady Hestia bowed her head for a moment. "I loved Mira, as did everyone."

"So she is gone, for good?" Lady Hestia turned toward me and pulled something out of her pocket. Oh gosh, that was a good a sign as any. It was Mira's camp necklace. Complete with her gold medallion that bore the symbol of Olympus. I pulled on it. The charm still worked. The medallion came off in my hand. I flipped it up in the air and it shifted to her sword Olympus. The air shimmered around it as it shrank back to the medallion. I brought my hand back toward the leather necklace. The medallion zipped out of my hand and reattached itself. Hestia tucked it back into her pocket.

"May I see the videos?" She asked. I suppose it was only fair. Mira was her niece. She grew up on Olympus. Of course Hestia wanted to know what her life down here was like.

I brought the laptop out and showed her the next video. The screen had one of those movie things in front of it. That are black and white and you snap them when the director yells action. The label said Karaoke Night No. 1. That had been Mira's suggestion.

"Okay," Mira said as our whole family sat on the couch in front of a tv. She had a mike in her hand. "You don't have to look at the camera. Lyrics are on the tv. if you need them. We'll go from youngest to oldest. Those who aren't singing are the audience during the practice round, then the judges during the competition. The audience picks your first song, you pick the second one. Winner gets the first ice cream sundae." Mira titled the camera over to the counter where two tubs of ice cream, a bottle of chocolate, a bottle of caramel, a bowl of little M&Ms, a bowl of chocolate chips, a bowl with blue gummy worms, a box of Oreos, and a bag of Recces pieces sat. Our family went hard core for family time on the weekend. I can tell you that we make kick butt sundaes.

"Meeee first!" Emme said as she popped up. Mira handed her the mike as she took Emme's spot on the couch next to me.

"Disney songs only." Mom stated. Paul nodded in approval. I suppose they were right, Emme being only five and all. Still, I know absolutely no movies where the Prince sings. I'm sure Emme and Mira will find one though.

"The Little Mermaid," I suggested knowing that Emme loved that movie.

"'Part of Your World'?"

"YES!" Emme shouted. Emme spoke the title and the movie. A spinning circle appeared on the tv screen for a moment. Then the song title popped up and cover art too.

"Okay just say ready when you want to start." Mira told her. She leaned back and whispered to me. I knew what she said. She told me the Karaoke mic was a present from Apollo when she was seven. Emme took her turn and Mira was next.

She sang that song about a mirror, from Mulan. Oh yeah, 'Relfection'. Mom sand a song from Beauty and the Beast. They managed to dig up two songs sang by guys for us. I got 'Under the Sea' and Paul got 'I'll Make a Man out of You' (from The Little Mermaid and Mulan). We decided to forgo the competition and just eat our sundaes then. Emme talked us into another round of songs, duets this time.

Mira and I sang one; Emme and me; Paul and Mom; Mom, Emme, and Mira; Emme and Paul; me and Mom. At that time it was about eleven p.m. and my mom declared it bed time for everyone. Mira took Emme's hand and lead her down the hall to Emme's room. The screen blacked out shortly after she turned her back to us.

I shut the laptop and found Hestia crying beside me. Only two tears, and perfectly silent. "Thank you, I hadn't seen her face in eight months."

"You don't have any pictures."

"They were all destroyed." I almost questioned why. Hestia disappeared in a cloud of white smoke so I never got the chance. The fire dimmed slowly and then went out. I picked my back pack up and continued on down toward the Zeus cabin. I opened the door and walked straight in. It was depressing in here. There were two cots and a massive statue. Thalia and Jason had turned it around, I didn't blame them. There were a few pictures on the wall and some shoes scattered about but other than that it looked uninhabited. Well except for the kid laying in one of the beds. I shut the door behind me and summoned some water.

I dropped it on Jason's face. He sat straight up and pulled his sword out from under the covers. "Oh," he said when he saw just me standing there. "Wait, what was that for?"

"I need your help. The giant Enceladus, ever heard of him?"

"The Enchilada? That's Leo's name for him by the way. Yeah, Piper and Leo helped me take him out. And I suppose my dad helped too."

"Just you three?"

"Well Coach Hedge and Piper's dad were there too."

"So not Mira?"

"'Course not, she would have been back at...Camp Jupiter...when Hera stole me. I didn't even remember her. Wait! How did you know about her?"

"She crashed a game of Capture the Flag shortly after the Second Titan War. Introduced herself and ta dah! She stayed those last two weeks and then just came occasionally on the weekends. Or as far as I know."

"So why did you want to know about the Enchilada? Oh wait, oh crap. Di'Imortals!" Jason probably picked that up from Anabeth. "Screw this. I never got why we didn't tell everyone the truth in the first place." That was when I jumped to my feet and took off running again.

I knew where I was heading, the training Arena. I burst in on a cozy little group of my friends. They all sat around a small dim fire. They looked up at me in shock. "What happened to my sister?" I asked in a voice as cold as Nico's when Bianca didn't return.

"She died fighting Enceladus," Anabeth stated. Then she got to her feet. "Percy, is something wrong?" Jason burst into the Arena right behind me.

"You were having a secret meeting without me?"

"Shut up Grace," Anabeth said urgently. "Percy its not what it seems." Her voice had calmed again and she had a pleading look in her eyes.

"Tell me if I'm wrong but it seems that your lying to my face." I crossed my arms.

"Why is this such a big deal?" Jason asked. "Why did you not just tell the whole Camp? And why not Percy? Honestly he should want revenge."

"Revenge for what?" I asked turning to stare him down. Jason didn't even flinch.

"Don't!" Grover warned, but it was too late.

With resolve and hate in his eyes Jason took a step toward me. "Mira was Gaea's spy in the Camps. She back stabbed, betrayed us, and set us up. She helped capture Hera. She's no sister of ours."

"NO!" I was sure I shouted loud enough for Olympus to hear. I refused to accept that, it couldn't me true. Jason plowed on though.

"When we released Hera she revealed Mira and do you know what she did? The coward took off running, pleading for us to listen to her. We caught her in two and a half days, cornered her in Brooklyn. It was monster central there though. Gaea left her for dead. It took several hours, but she was finally overwhelmed. Pulled apart by the monsters. It was a fitting end for and enemy of Rome."

"You speak like you were there."

"I wasn't, but-"

"Jason NO!" Clarisse shouted.

"-Anabeth was." He finished. I turned around again. Everyone had jumped up and they formed a protective barrier around Anabeth. She was panicking behind Clarisse.

"Calm down, Percy man." Grover was stalling, he was obviously nervous. I could feel my anger radiating off of me. And I did absolutely nothing about it. These jerks messed with my sister.

"You did something for Hera. And it was hunting down my sister? And were you supposed to kill her if those monsters didn't do her in? My girlfriend was to be my sister's murder? Scratch that, you just sat by and let her get killed. You ARE my sister's murder!"

"It wasn't murder. She was an enemy of the empire and she had to be disposed of. You should be proud of Anabeth, she performed her duty well." Jason sounded as if he was talking about every day chores or something. That ticked me off even more.

"Did you honestly not care? Is that it? Because apparently this isn't a big deal to you." I kept my back to Jason.

"Its part of life. Its how things are done in Rome."

"Oh yes Rome, because you were such a civilized race. Would you have fed her to the lions?"

"Shut up graecus. Mira was a traitor, and if your going to side with her than you should be considered one too."

"She was NOT! I knew her and I knew her well. Your going off of just Hera's word here? You didn't even let her defend herself for crying out loud!"

"She could charm speak. She would have had us on our knees in a minute."

"Mira was raised by the Olympians, she loved her family. And they loved her back. Why should she turn on them? Give me one good reason."

"Why should Juno lie?" Jason asked. "She is the patron of Rome."

"And the Patron of you, you're obviously bias."

"And you aren't?"

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are. I'm sorry Percy." Anabeth whispered to me. "Personal loyalty is his fatal flaw. I knew this would happen. I tried to avoid it. Give him a few days, he'll accept it." She announced it to the world, just like that. Thanks a lot Anabeth, love you too.

"Accept what?" Thalia asked as she stepped out of the shadows. She was followed by the rest of the Camp. Chiron trotted in looking extremely tired.

"Children, what in the name of Hades is going on here?" He asked. Then he saw us, Anabeth hiding, Jason and I clenching our fists getting ready to pull out our swords.

"Romans assemble!" Jason commanded. "Your Praetor backs Mira, traitor of Olympus, spy for Gaea." There was a roar of outrage from them. "He is weak. He lets emotions blind him to his duty. I request he be ejected from office, effective immediately." He looked to Reyna as a general cry of approval came from the Romans. She was biting her lip like she was concentrating hard. The Greeks had shifted so they were standing behind Anabeth and companions. I stood in the middle, in no man's land. Jason took two steps back, joining the Romans. Chiron trotted out beside me right as fourteen gods flashed in to join the frenzy.

"Perseus," Reyna said, her voice shaky, "you are here by discharged from the Legion. Do not return to Camp Jupiter. We-we turn our backs on you." She stepped back into the crowd, her eyes down cast.

"What is this?" Zeus demanded.

"Percy Jackson refuses to accept Mira as a traitor. She was the spy of Gaea." Octavian stated with a smirk.

"Wait was?" Nico stepped forward into the no mans land. "No, no, no, no, no!"

"How come no one told me my sister was dead?" Thalia asked shakily.

"She is no daughter of mine." Zeus stated. The sky rumbled. It was a scary atmosphere with the tension in the dark, our meeting lit by one fire and fourteen immortal's glows.

"She is no sister of ours Thalia. She got what was coming to her." Jason said.

"They sat by and watched her die, they murdered her." I told my cousins.

"She's not dead," Nico said with a frown. "Her soul isn't in the Underworld."

"Her spirit will haunt Brooklyn forever. It is a place beyond us." Hades stated calmly.

"It wasn't murder anyways." Hera stated. "It was required, for the greater good."

"Percy can't accept that, because of his fatal flaw. Loyalty." Anabeth contributed to the conversation. Thalia and Nico looked at each other.

"You know what Percy. I don't think I'll get back to sleep for a while. Want to go monster hunting?" Thalia offered. They thought this was over.

"So then Mira didn't matter to either of you either? Mira mattered to none of you? Well I'll tell you what! She mattered to me. I'm the only one without a sibling. I got Mira and thought life was perfect but I guess I was wrong. Its not loyalty, none of you knew her like I did. None of you knew her!"

"I raised her!" Hera shouted. Others chimed in with 'me too'.

"What was her dream?" I asked Hera.

"Simple, to defeat the enemies of Olympus."

I shook my head and moved on to Zeus. "What school did she go to?"

"She didn't go to school." He gave a look to Posideon that said 'stop this'.

"Humor him." Hestia piped up. "I'm afraid he's right."

"What spot did she play in basketball?" This one was directed to Persephone. She looked absolutely confused. I moved onto Hades. "Name the instruments she could play." I moved on before he could even blink. Amphitrite. "Favorite movie?" Posideon, "Last name. At least tell me you know that."

"She didn't have one, son-"

"She gave herself one. Now what is it? None of you knew anything about her. Maybe you should watch this!" I slid the laptop to Hestia. Yeah they were personal memories but I was hoping it would leave an impression on them. "You could learn a lot from those videos."

I turned around and stalked off. "Son where are you-"

"Don't!" I shouted as I turned around and continued to walk backwards. "I'm Mira's sister. You said it yourself. She's not your daughter, I'm not your son! And I'm going home. To protect my other sister just in case you want to call her Kronos's lieutenant whose been hiding from you. Lay a hand on Emme and I swear you won't live long enough to realize your mistake."

The ground shook as I made that oath. "Percy stop!" I stopped just for a moment. Anabeth was the one calling to me now. My loyalties had changed now though. These people didn't deserve it.

"I'm going to change that statement I made earlier. My ex-girlfriend is my little sister's murder." I sprinted for the border. I only realized by the time I had made it home that I was controlling the massive storm over New York that was keeping the gods from following me.

**AN: Well Percy finally left. How do you all like the chapter names? I love coming up with them. Percy is such a fun character. Right, thanks to you who commented. That made my day! Umm, I'll try for another chapter today. Right, comment/critique.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Kane Chronicles**

Chapter Five~And the Oscar Goes to Me...wait I'm not Acting

8 Months Prior

Mira PoV

I was exhausted. I had just returned home from the lamest mission ever. Surveillance. The gods were still kinda jumpy and they had me investigating all kinds of false claims and such about the few titans still out and about. Why me? Why not Percy? Good questions. They thought he deserved a break. Yeah him and not me. I didn't have any harsh feelings though. I loved my older brother. I had only known him since August but we'd managed to grow super close in those months.

Percy had really wanted me (a sister). With Jason and Thalia and then Nico and Hazel, Percy was kind of the odd man out (but he doesn't know about Jason and Hazel). Until I showed up. I made a pretty amazing impression on Camp in the last couple of days of Summer break. I earned the Stoll brothers's respect, that is saying something.

I pushed my way into the Empire State building lobby and plucked a bead off my necklace. It was like all other Camp necklaces: leather string, clay beads, one per camp year. I had fourteen. Believe it or not I have been going to Camp since I was a baby. Even if no one ever saw me, I was there. July just happened to be Dionysus month. Anyways the bead turned into a pass key (courtesy of Hecate) and I snagged an elevator. I hit the button for the top floor and then squished to the back so people wouldn't notice me not getting off.

I got lucky and my elevator was cleared by the seventieth floor. I hit the shut doors button and swiped my key. I tapped the six hundredth floor button and started to wait. It takes about a minute and a half. I used to count when I was a kid. I never came up with the same number twice. Some really awful music came on over the speakers. I couldn't even identify it. I cringed and mentally decided to work on that.

The Stolls would help me fix it. 'Hey guys, want to hijack the sound system for Olympus's elevator?'

'Mira you had us a hijack!' I laughed as I imagined the atrocious music they'd pick. Or maybe they'd pick good music. Either way it would be worth the laughs. There was a ding as I stepped out of the elevator.

I walked down the stone path up to the Throne Room. Anabeth had redone the entrance as a scenic garden kind of path. Then the road branched off to several under construction Greek temples. The Throne Room was a massive white marble temple with a roof several stories high. Statues lined the front of it. You walked in in between Hera and Zeus. There was a massive arch way with a Greek inscription on it. Anabeth had done a good job. I knew Athena was proud of her.

The Throne Room was perfectly calm when I walked in. Not a single god moved, and every one of them was there. For a whole minute I thought I was in a room full of statues. That's when I realized they were all staring at me. Zeus stood silently, something wasn't right.

I decided to go out on a limb. "The tip off was a negative. All titans are still contained. Although there are signs of monsters converging to meeting points though their leader is currently unknown." They still remained silent. "Okay then, well can I go back to camp now? I already missed one week of my friends winter break. They'll all be gone in a few more days." I didn't mention it was my winter break too because honestly I wasn't supposed to go to school.

You must think I am the luckiest kid in the world, right? Wrong. No school means no mortal friends. I don't go to movies, I don't have sleep overs, I don't even have a face book! Correction, I didn't. Recently I've been feeling like my families drifting apart from me. Right after the Second Titan War they started ignoring me more. I spend one month with each of the major gods. It used to be a big deal, like from sun up to sun down I spent every second of that month with that god.

Well they started ignoring me. It was kind of like, they used me for a job and that was that. They wanted nothing else to do with me. I wasn't trying to be rebellious or anything but I got kinda lonely. I called it an experiment at first, to see if they'd notice. I enrolled in a school for gifted students in Brooklyn. I went to school, I became a varsity cheerleader, I visited Percy and little Emme every day after school for an hour or more. At that point I was gone for school, plus time for Percy and Emme, and I didn't get back until about ten p.m. on Fridays (football games). My siblings didn't notice, nor my parents. I got a bit more daring.

I rented a pent house and the floor below for a late birthday party. My birthday was in the summer but it kinda got ignored for the war. I threw myself an awesome party. Nothing over the top, but I did have some fun. After all, my credit card from the Lotus Casino and Hotel did have unlimited cash. I invited some of my new friends plus a few football players and we jammed out all night. We went swimming, had a dance competition, then a video game competition, and finally a movie marathon. Everyone left about midnight, I didn't want anything inappropriate happening even though I was sure my friends would never do that.

I started going to gymnastics competitions in New York. Still, no one noticed. I threw two or three more parties for an end to the football season, varsity cheer squad, and a pre-season basketball party. Now this school is for students who are good at certain things, that includes sports. So it almost gave the coach a heart attack when the girl on the gymnastics scholarship made varsity point guard. Oh yeah, and I'm only a freshman. The team was super nice and accepting though, their old point guard graduated last year and the new recruits weren't exactly what they were expecting. So now I was missing an extra two hours every day for basketball practice. And then I went to a vocal competition with the school choir for a whole twelve hours, still unnoticed.

"Your acting is impressive Mira," Zeus said finally. I frowned.

"It should be, I taught it to her." Apollo said. His gaze was cold, which is super hard for a sun god to pull off. I knew then and there I as in trouble, for what I had no clue.

"Okay you've got me, now what's going on?" I asked.

"The secret's out, why would you do that to us? We raised you." Hera looked about ready to cry. Then she shifted to Juno and I could see the hate in her eyes. "You are an enemy of Olympus. Stand down, surrender your weapon, and accept punishment."

"What did I do?" I screamed.

They all seemed to pause and consider it for a moment. Venus was the first to snap out of it. "Charmspeak. Shut her up fast." They all shifted to their Roman forms, their less compassionate more duty and violence focused selves. I knew I was screwed. Another thing I knew, I had to get out of here fast. I clenched my fists and blinked once. Then I came out fighting.

I summoned a stream of water that I threw into Hestia's fire. There was a loud sizzle as a steam screen filled the room. I turned and ran. The doors were shut and bared, no surprise. I hear a crackle and jumped to the side as the Master Bolt hit the doors. Electricity ran over their surface and then blasted the doors off their hinges. I took off running.

Arrows whizzed by my head, I was using every single defense tactic I knew to avoid getting skewarded. A salt water wave hit me and wrapped me up inside of me. Fight, fight, fight! Every inch of my mind was begging me.

My anger boiled over. What had I done to them? They didn't even tell, didn't even give me a chance to defend myself. Which meant they didn't care about me. I was replaceable. Screw them! Flames exploded from my hands. The water was vaporized and I dropped back to the ground. I turned to face the Olympians.

I knew I was out numbered and I also knew what would happen if Juno and Mars got their hands on me. As the patrons of Rome, they were extremely protective. I didn't know what I did. But I had a sinking feeling it was worth a quick death and eternity in the Fields of Punishment. By now the elevator was blocked. So I did the rational thing.

I faked left and then sprinted for the edge of Olympus. My right foot pushed off the edge and I was sailing out into open air. Normally I would have prayed for no air planes to be under me but I didn't exactly have any one to pray to. I tucked in my arms and legs as I hurled down toward Manhattan.

I fell through a layer of clouds and then I could see all the sky scrapers. I spread out my arms and legs again. Air resistance slows you down, and I usually had a hard enough time using my 'demigod powers'. I willed the air to hold me up, to start slowing me down. It took a few seconds in which I had started to think I was going to kill myself. And then I started to slow down. It was like I was attached to a bungee cord only I wasn't going to get sling shotted back up into the air.

I stopped totally about ten feet above the roof of a sky scraper. Then I let myself fall. I jumped to my feet and took off running. I unlocked the stair doors in a matter of minutes. Then I was running down them, taking them two at a time. I didn't want to try and use my air powers so soon after that sky diving thing. After about ten flights of stairs I walked out into the hallway calmly and found the elevator. I rode it downstairs thinking about what to do now.

I would head back to my penthouse and grab a few things and then take off. Alaska probably, the land beyond the gods. I would be safe there. Or maybe, just maybe Brooklyn. I wasn't sure what was there but the gods feared it, and it would be easier to get there.

I ducked out into the lobby of the building, ducking my head as the security cameras swept by. Athena would be hacking all security systems by now, trying to get a facial recognition. I headed out onto the streets and got lost in the crowd. I need to ditch my clothes and play with my appearance. I ducked down into the subway, glancing at the map. I was only two blocks away from Olympus. My penthouse was closer to my school, more towards the outskirts of Manhattan. I grabbed a subway pass from one of those machines, swiping my credit card. Thank gods it didn't have a name on it. Then again Athena wouldn't know to look for that. They probably thought I just had some cash and a few drachma. Boy were they wrong.

On the other hand they knew not to underestimate me, which would mean I couldn't head back to Camp and they'd probably looking for half blood hide outs. I actually had several in the major cities. I'd also taken over a few of Anabeth's old hide outs from her days with Luke and Thalia. Maybe I go to a few of them, just to throw them off track.

I jumped off the subway at my stop and rushed up above ground. I turned the corner and stepped into an alley. There was a back door to the apartment building for deliveries and such. I tiptoed in between security camera blind spots. When I got out into the lobby I kept my back to the door and hit the up button on the elevator.

I slid another pass key and hit the pent house button. The elevator shot straight up, not stopping for any one else. When I got back home I let out a sigh. I'd survived this long, that was good. The gods would keep their laws, which meant they couldn't come after me. They be sending demigods soon though. In the meanwhile I had some time to rest a little and make a full plan.

I threw my back pack on the dining room table. It was still full of stuff from my last quest. Slightly singed dirty clothes, about fifty bucks, half a canteen of nectar, an extra pair of Nikes, and my (illegal) cell phone. Not like mortal law, but like demigod law. Cell phones are a big no-no. Going to high school without a cell phone is also a big no-no.

I picked up my iPhone 4-S before the start of the school year. Along with creating a facebook page, a twitter account, and a few other things. I really wanted to take a nap. But I knew I had to be ready to run. So instead I started unpacking and repacking. I'd been training for quests since I was three. Learning to fight, survive on practically nothing, use my surroundings and all that crap. Basically wilderness survival for demigods.

I had my bag unpacked and repacked in three minutes flat. With new clothes, extra shoes, food, and a couple of magic items. I grabbed the nectar canteen and filled the rest of it up with water. Then I sat it in a patch of sunlight on the window sill. It had been a gift from Apollo. Just fill with water, leave in the sunlight for a minute or two and bam! Instant Nectar, it was one of the more useful gifts I'd been given. I had fourteen electric spears from Ares, he never really got the point of giving me anything other than a weapon. Most of the gods had usually given me blessings or gifts, to increase my power over this or that.

Those would have been useful if I had even HAD those powers in the first place. It didn't take me long to figure out I was adopted. It took me forever to figure out growing up on Olympus with fourteen+ gods giving you constant attention wasn't the normal. They never figured out I never had the powers they were trying to increase in the first place. Thank goodness when I got the 'upgrades' I got the actual powers too. I had to work extra hard to control them though.

Except fire, fire was always easy to summon and control. And my skills with weapons came pretty naturally too. I picked the canteen back up and checked to make sure the spell still worked. I had no clue if the gods could just make my magic items stop working. There was nectar though. I put it in my backpack and then put my second Lotus Cash Card plus some twenty dollar bills in my bag. That was pretty much everything. I threw my phone charger and a laptop in after a minute.

I sat on my bed and glared at the window angrily. It wans't in my nature to be sad. I just lost my family, well they had started ignoring me and now they were acting like jerks so I didn't care that much. Percy, Thalia, Nico, and Jason though. I'd miss them. Of course all my friends at camp but I didn't know them that well. I'd miss Emme too.

I rolled across my bed to the nightstand and opened the top drawer. I pulled out a small metal box, full of pictures. I added it to my bag and then zipped it up. I didn't like this bitter sweet feeling. I should feel outraged or something but I was kinda going to miss my old life. "Gahh!" I screamed. I picked up several throw pillows and tossed them at the sliding glass door to my balcony. The pink, blue, and green pillows crashed into the glass door and slid down harmlessly. My room's color scheme wasn't anything fancy. A couple complimentary colors, nice and bright.

I've got a closet any child of Aphrodite would kill for, its size and what's in it. I'm not one for designer labels but I do have a fashion sense. My bathroom's pretty awesome too, with jets in the bathtub and a separate shower. Plus enough outlets to plug in my iPhone dock, my straightener, my blow dryer, and several other things all at once (yet again, Aphrodite kids would be jealous).

My bed is nice and fluffy, tons of pillows and blankets. I like to blast the AC and then burrow under several blankets. I've got a desk that I use for doing my school work sometimes. Oh and then there's beanbags and a tv. in the corner for gaming contests when my friends sleep over. Or for just sitting down and reading.

The rest of the penthouse is designed just to be a teen hang out I guess. I never really intended to live here but I made it so I could. Lots of tvs, iPod docks in every room, and pool, air hockey, and ping pong tables scattered all throughout. I've got mats and a balance beam in one room too, for my gymnastics. Oh and then I turned a closet into a weapons/Camp stuff storage room. There's a two or three guest bedrooms.

I jumped up, feeling the sudden urge to get rid of all that stuff. I pulled out an extra two back packs (if your a demigod keep several on hand, they should all be water proof and fire proof). I tore all of my stuff out of that closet. The weapons I wasn't taking with me, my orange and purple shirts, and the pictures. I didn't look at any of them. I wanted to incinerate them all right then and there. I had a better idea though. I almost threw my camp necklace in there too. I didn't need any stupid blessings or gifts or any of that crap. Or my sword, I didn't want it any more. I had already thrown two or three weapons that I hadn't received from any Olympians in my quest bag.

I had an idea in mind for these things though. The pictures, the shirts, and my necklace. The weapons I would probably just toss in the river. Later though. And from far away. Poseidon would tell the river gods to be alert of things entering their territory.

My revenge plan was already fully formed in my head. I allowed myself and smirk. Then I went back to my room and fell asleep, not bothering to close the curtains.

**AN: Right, just a tid bit from Mira's point of view. She is my OC so I own her. I do NOT however own Percy Jackson. I wish... Anyways I'm going to a sleepaway camp till Saturday so there won't be updates till Saturday after this. Sorry. Thanks for the comments, they make my day. I hope I'll find two or three when I get home from camp. Uhh yeah, that's that.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: So I've been gone for a while. Sorry about that. And then I had to clean my room. Can I get some sympathy for that? Or at least forgiveness for this chapter being soooooo late. I try to update every two or three days. At best I get one to two chapters every day. **

**Thank you to all you wonderful people who commented/favorited/subscribed. That really helps me write. It makes me feel like I'm actually doing this for a reason and I have to go on. I would love to have more comments. In an attempt to get those I will offer to respond to yours and also I will start asking questions at the end of the chapters. Plus soon I will need OCs to be Magicians at Brooklyn House. That comes in two chapters. If you all could submit some that would be wonderful. If not then I'll just have to waste writing time coming up with characters. Oh and if you answer the question then your character gets bumped up on the list for me to put in the chapter. I'll need five to ten. Name, description, age, and history summary (in one or two paragraphs please)**

**Summary of that. Thanks to commentors, I need orginal charaters, please comment. Thank you.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Percy Jackson. If I did I wouldn't have to go to high school.**

Chapter Six~I Become an Undercover CIA Foreign Exchange Student

Present Time

Percy PoV

I walked down the street, with my hands in my pockets. Patches of the street were illuminated by light posts. I started looking at mailbox numbers (I'm not going to say anything about my house's location for Emme's safety). I came to the one that said Blofis on it about halfway down the street. I cut across the front yard up to the door.

I didn't even hesitate to ring the door bell. If I had been thinking rationally I would have realized it was like 2 a.m. and my mom might not be awake. Yeah well my mind was kinda chaos at the moment. I was so dead when Zeus found me. Maybe Hestia would keep him away, she had been the only Olympian on my side.

A moment later I heard the lock click as the wooden door was opened. My mom stood in front of me, her hair a bit frizzy, still dressed in her pjs. I stepped in past her, then shut and locked the door. She looked at me again, and then crushed me in a bear hug.

"Perseus Jackson," she whispered in my ear. "Where in Hades have you been?"

"Long story, but I'm back. And I missed you, and Emme, and Paul."

"Eight months." She was still hugging me. And it just occurred to me then that I was taller than her. She stepped back, her eyes shining. "You grew quite a bit." I laughed.

"Sally, who is there?" Paul came out into the hallway. He looked tired and had just put on his glasses. "Percy?"

"Paul." I smiled. He hugged me too, but only for a second. My mom had disappeared into the kitchen. Paul and I sat down in the living room. She came back out with hot chocolate and blue chocolate chip cookies.

I managed to grab two and shove them in my mouth before she took them away from me again. "Story first, then cookies."

"Fine," I grumbled. So I launched into the tale of Camp Jupiter, my ridiculously stupid/brave quest, the giants rising, my memories coming back, trying to get the Romans and the Greeks to work together, and then the battles in Europe. Oh and then I remembered to tell about Jason Grace and Hazel Levesque. My mom didn't say a word but I could tell she was worried through the whole story.

"That stuck up queen of Olympus," she muttered at the end. "Eight months and you were just asleep?"

"Sally," Paul said as he tried to calm her down. I had left out Mira, I didn't want to worry her too much. I thought I would stick the with the story Anabeth had come up with for now. My mom pushed the plate of cookies toward me again and I began to chow down.

"That doesn't explain about Mira, she's been missing since the time you disappeared. Did Hera switch her too?"

"She's dead Mom." I was glaring at the floor so I didn't notice at first. After a minute silence I looked up. My family was frozen on the couch. Paul with one arm around Mom, a cookie in his other hand. A look of pure worry etched on my mom's face. I waved a hand in front of her face. "Mom?" I asked concerned.

"Relax young hero, its just a time freeze. Its temporary."

The time freeze would wear off in a minute. Or so _he _had said. I believed him though. As much as I could after the Camp's betrayal. I had decided against telling my mom the Mira story. _He _had also advised against it. Mom was worried enough with me, she needed to believe everything else was still perfectly fine.

"Did you say dead Percy?"

"The giant Enceladus got to her. A demigod can't defeat a giant alone, they need a god's assistance. Mira fought the best she could but you know her. She wouldn't run. The gods didn't know until it was too late." Mom turned her face into Paul's shoulder and started crying. Paul also looked pretty disturbed himself. Mortified, disbelieving, in shock.

I bowed my head for a moment.

"Perceee?" Emme shrieked. She was standing in the doorway dressed in her little cheerleader pjs, a blanket draped around her shoulders, and a stuffed dog clutched in her arms. She rubbed her eyes once and pulled at her pigtails. At that point she seemed to decide she wasn't dreaming.

Emme launched herself at me, climbing over the coffee table and practically tackling me. She threw her little arms around my neck and started babbling about a nightmare. I patted her back and sat her beside me. She placed Cheery (the dog, yet again the whole thing with names ending with the 'e' sound) in between us and placed the blanket over both of our laps. She snuggled close to me. After a minute she started to wake up a bit more and then Emme launched into a question asking frenzy.

"You went bye bye? Mira went bye bye? Will you leave again? Is sissy coming back? Where'd she go? Did you go with her? Did she visit your daddy with you?" I froze at that question. If Emme knew she'd be scared for life. Mira's daddy killed her. My daddy killed her. No, not my dad any more.

"No Emme. She didn't come with me. Mira's gone somewhere on her own."

"Will she come back? She said she'd get her cheerleader fwiends to come to my bifday party." I couldn't help but smile at Emme. The longest word she knew was 'cheerleader'. Typically all other long words got shortened or mispronounced.

"She's going to be gone for a while Emme. She won't be able to see you for a while. She's in a new place, she'll be happy there."

"What new place? Can I go too? Are there cheerleaders?"

"I think so," I told her carefully. Emme stared up at me and saw there was more to the story. I knew we wouldn't be able to hide it for too long. "Emme, Mira went to visit your mommy and daddy. You can't visit."

Emme started to sniff like she was trying not to cry. "She's an angley?"

"Angel. She can fly now. Someday when you see her again she'll teach you."

Emme smiled for a moment. The tears were forming at the corners of her eyes and when she laughed they fell. It gave her blue eyes this ripple effect like the ocean. "Swilly Percy. Mira was the flyey cheerleader. She doesn't need to learn."

Alright I was lost when it came to cheerleading so I just went with what Emme said. I didn't bother trying to explain the whole image of an angel with wings and all. I certainly didn't try to talk about what the Afterlife was really like. Or how Mira was a ghost haunting the battle ground of her last stand in Brooklyn.

Emme snuggled up to me, I guess the message had really sunk in now because she was crying. Or maybe that was just cause my mom was. I wrapped my arms around Emme and cradled her until she cried herself to sleep. Then I gently picked her up and walked down the hallway to Emme's room.

It had changed since I had last been in it. The Disney Princesses had been replaced with cheerleaders. The bed spread was a royal blue with gold pillows. Two gold pom poms were embroidered in the center. Emme's name was written underneath in cursive. Crayon drawn pictures of cheerleaders covered the wall. The mini cheer uniform Mira had given Emme as an early Christmas gift was hanging on the front of the closet. Pictures of Emme, Mira, and Me covered any other open surfaces that were filled with something 'cheer' themed.

I tucked Emme down under the covers and brushed her hair out of her face. I squeezed her tiny little hand once more and shut the door to her room behind me. I rejoined my parents in the living room. Mom had managed to pull herself together and Paul seemed to be functioning again.

"You're staying, right?"

"I can't stay, monsters, remember? The school year alone is unnerving. I'd rather not push my luck. Besides there's only two or three weeks of summer left. I'll be back at school and back home after that. You can also tell me what excuse you dreamed up for my disappearance. Did I go to my dad's place? Or was I a foreign exchange student in China? Wait, better yet, I'm an undercover CIA agent who got sent on a mission." That drew a smile from my mom, which is what I was going for.

She seemed happy now, but I was sure this moment was bittersweet for her. I felt bad lieing to her face. But Mira's story would destroy her trust in the gods, where I was going would frighten her out of her wits, and probably the truth about everything else would kill her. So we both put on happy faces and fake smiles, pretending everything was all right. Only I had to fake a lot more.

I grabbed my backpack off the ground and consented to another of her five minute bear hugs. Paul gave me a quick hug and a pat on the back. Mom gave me some warnings about being careful and staying alive and staying out of trouble. I rolled my eyes and told her I'd stay out of trouble. She laughed at that. And then we were silent again. After a minute I sighed and turned toward the front door.

"Love you Mom, you too Paul, I'll be back at the end of the Summer." I shut the door behind me and headed out into the street. Two truths and a lie.

**Question: A few chapters back I mentioned the giant Enceladus. What did Jason say was Leo's nickname for him?**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Alright so this took a while cause my computer wasn't working with me, then my internet went down, and then I didn't get any OC submitions so I had to rework the storyline a little so I have some time to creat the characters on my own. Credit goes to Spidermite who answere the question.**

Chapter Seven~Guilt and Cocoa

3rd Person

Camp Half Blood

"I knew we should have told him earlier," Grover said as he nervously munched on his shirt. "We should have, the day we landed the Argo II in Camp Jupiter."

"No we needed him against the giants." Anabeth reasoned. "Would you have wanted him to do that when we met them for the first time?" She pointed to the group of demigods assembled behind Jason.

"We should have come clean to him right when we got back." Katie pipped up.

"No that would have crushed him!" Hazel interjected.

"She's right. We might not have known him as long as some of you but we knew him well enough. After the causalities from the war, coming clean about Mira would probably have depressed him." Frank added while putting a comforting arm around Hazel.

"Well he found out today any ways punks. I wouldn't call that response depression as much as anger issues." Clarisse grunted and crossed her arms over her chest. "Keeping the truth from him seemed to piss him off even more."

"It would have been better if we could have waited a few more weeks and I could have broken the news to him." Anabeth said. Athena frowned at her daughter, obviously displeased by the relationship the two had had. The rest of the Olympians all seemed to be thinking.

"It would have been better if it never happened." Nico remarked sadly.

"Are you sure its true?" Thalia asked, hoping that this was a nightmare.

"Have you not been paying attention for the past hour?" Jason asked angrily. He clenched his fists and his hair started to stand on end as small amounts of electricity traveled across his skin.

"Well I'm sorry that I don't want to believe its true." Thalia snapped at her brother feeling challenged.

"I did too but as a warrior I can't let emotions get in the way of my duty."

"Oh well I'm sorry that I let my emotions get in the way. Like right now, I'm angry." Thalia narrowed her eyes and held a hand up. Miniature lightening bolts shot from finger to finger.

"You want to fight?" Jason asked. "I'm your brother." He reminded her realizing now that angering Thalia was a bad idea.

"And Mira was our sister. So I guess that means I'd better watch my back just in case you decide to get rid of me too."

"She was a spy!"

"Says who?"

"Thalia we've been over this. Hera said so. Stop challenging it." Anabeth sighed. "Are you going to throw a tantrum and run out like Percy?"

"Your ex-boyfriend?" Thalia asked smiling innocently. Her eyes glittered with the insult she'd just delivered.

"Ouch," Travis whispered to Connor in the crowd of demigods. They were starting to back away and form a ring around the two siblings. Anabeth was on the edge of the ring but now she stepped forward into it.

"Ten bucks she punches Thalia." Connor whispered back.

"Thalia will punch her first and then run off to find Percy."

"So that's a second bet?"

"Ten on each."

"Your on." The twins discreetly fist bumped, their version of sealing a bet with a hand shake, and turned their attention back to the the Graces.

"Percy wasn't thinking straight. His fatal flaw was messing with his mind. He'll over come it soon and be back at Camp. Sure he'll be sad-"

"Sounds more like he was mad." Thalia interrupted Anabeth's lecture.

"That wasn't him." Anabeth protested. "He was just shocked and hurt. He loved Mira most of all I think. Of course her backstabbing us was going to hit him hard. I knew he was going to react like that. He'll release how stupid he was being in a few hours. Hera wouldn't lie."

Thalia laughed at that statement. "Are you sure about that Wise Girl? I seem to remember you telling me about certain adventures in a Labyrinth that involved her. When did your attitude about her flip around?"

"Juno is a patron of Rome sister, she has our best interests at heart."

"Juno to you, Hera to me. Hera who tried to kill Anabeth before we faced Kronos."

"That was a statue of me!" Hera protested. Thalia snorted and continued on.

"Hera who kidnapped Percy and just hid him away for eight months." The Greeks started to mumble agreement. Thalia was pacing back in forth in front of them like a lawyer. "Hera who loves her perfect family. Hephaestus Cabin you know all about that don't you?" Thalia looked straight at Leo who was frowning at the goddess.

"Enough!" Hera cried. "I will not stand here and be insulted my a mortal, especially your daughter!" Zeus looked away from Hera.

"Right," Nico said pushing his way to the front of the crowd and out into the ring. "Lets go Thalia. This is enough. We should be worried about Percy." Nico held a hand out to her and she took it with a grin. The hunters all gasped and Artemis was about ready to turn Nico into a jackalope.

They faded into the shadows before she could do so though. "Oh," Anabeth said simply. Nico and Thalia had taken off to find Percy. Nico certainly wasn't going to risk being stopped by anyone.

"I may not be a protector any more. But I was all three of their protectors. So I'm going to find Percy too." Grover walked out of the Sword Arena but the instant he was out of sight they could hear him take off running.

"Does anyone else want to take off on an unauthorized quest?" Hera asked while shifting into Juno. When no one moved she said, "good."

"Can we please get back to Percy?" Poseidon asked anxiously.

"My daughter is right, he was obviously shocked in to an over reaction and a slightly delusional state. Something he should snap out of in a short while. He'll be fine." Athena concluded. She shrugged. "We just wait."

Most of the demigods seemed to accept this. Chiron stepped up and sent them all back off to bed. There was some grumbling and general discontent until it was announced that tomorrow breakfast would be two hours later.

The gods returned to where ever they had come from. The demigods went back to their cabins. But nothing is ever as it seems.

There had been one demigod who could have answered Percy's questions. Who could have stepped up and confirmed all he said was true. She stayed back in the shadows though, unsure. By chance she had ended up at Mira's school for the fall semester. She and Mira had never gotten along very well.

Before the incident she had been thinking about transferring. After hearing about Mira dieing in Brooklyn she did just that. She'd always wondered though, if she had gone back to school after winter break, would Mira have been there? Of course not, but Mira was Mira. And the story of her getting caught in an explosion that she caused, it just didn't seem like her.

That's what happened in adventure/romance movies. The main character would fake his death and then come back and save the girl. That seemed a lot more like Mira. These thoughts had occurred to her every day. She had seen the explosion herself, she had volunteered to be part of the team that chased her down.

Drew was getting annoyed with herself. She had to ditch these thoughts that were haunting her mind. School wouldn't start for a few more weeks but the office would still be open. She could do some charm speaking and get a look at the attendance records for the second semester.

With that in mind she re-fluffed her pillow and tried to fall asleep.

Over in the Athena Cabin, Anabeth lay on her bunk staring at the ceiling. She too couldn't fall asleep. She felt guilty, she was Percy's girlfriend. She didn't believe he had really meant to break up with her. She should have been the first one to go after him. Thalia, Nico, and Grover had left though. They were his friends, so why hadn't she?

Her mother's advice had seemed logical. Just give him some time and space. Anabeth could see Aphrodite shaking her head in the background. Love and logic, they didn't mix. She had chosen logic, but now she was thinking she should have chosen love.

Should, would, could, those weren't words that would get her anywhere. Do or do not, there is no try. She smiled in the darkness. Percy had quoted that Star Wars line once. She had been amazed he watched Star Wars and remembered that Master Yoda said that. Her Seaweed Brain managed to surprise her every once in a while.

That was what changed her mind. Her Seaweed Brain was out there. So that's where she was going. Anabeth slipped out of bed and grabbed a per-packed quest back from under her bed. The Athena Cabin always kept several on hand. There was no point in disguising that she had left. They'd know after they did their routine cabin check and clean in the morning.

Anabeth grabbed her Yankees hat and knife and then slipped out of her cabin and took off running for the border.

The last exception was Poseidon, of course. He was worried about Percy. Instead of flashing back to Atlantis, he flashed to outside of the Blofis's house. Rays of light creeped out from behind the drawn curtains. He walked up to the door and knocked on it once.

He heard muffled voices from behind the door. "...over?"

"No...Ana...be there."

Sally opened the door and blinked once. "I thought you'd come." She stepped out of the door way and Poseidon followed her into the living room. Thalia and Nico were sitting on the blue couch, each one holding a mug of cocoa. There was a plate of half eaten blue chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table.

"Right then," Thalia said not even hesitating. "Now we're just waiting on Anabeth."

"Grover will get here first. Anabeth's logical mind is still trying to decide a plan of action right about now." Nico countered.

"Grover left just after you two." Poseidon informed them. Nico smirked at Thalia. He sat down in the only chair. Sally joined Nico and Thalia on the couch. "Where's Percy Sally?"

"I told Nico and Thalia already. You just missed him. I thought he went back to Camp though. He said he couldn't wait to see his family any longer so he sneaked out. That would be my son." Sally laughed nervously. "Alright now what was he lying about?"

"What did he tell you?" Thalia asked. There was another knock on the door before Sally could say anything. She got up and rushed to the door, hoping Percy might be there.

"Grover." Nico whispered to Thalia.

"Anabeth." She whispered back. Thalia huffed when Grover joined them in the living room. Sally came back with two more cups of cocoa She handed Grover one and set the other on the table.

Anabeth didn't even bother knocking. She arrived five minutes later and just walked in the front door. "Mrs. Blofis-" she started as she pulled her Yankee's cap off her head. She looked around the living room in shock.

"Took you long enough." Thalia said, still mad she'd lost the bet with Nico. Sally pushed the last mug of cocoa towards her. "Now Mrs. Jackson-"

"Sally." She corrected Thalia.

"Tell us everything about when Percy was here."

"So he's disappeared again?" To say Sally was worried was an understatement. She was terrified, she'd just gotten her son back. The quests and prophecies and even Camp could wait. All she wanted was some time with Percy and Emme at home without any demigod craziness.

Everyone turned to Poseidon. He sighed and put his head in his hands. "Yes, Percy's gone again. I can't sense his presence and he couldn't have gotten out of New York that fast. The only thing would be if someone is hiding him but that's impossible because Hecate-" Poseidon stopped. "Sally have you had any other visitors tonight?" She shook her head. "No one came with Percy or could have sneaked in earlier?"

"Not that I know of. Why is that so important?"

"There's traces of magic in here. But they're supposed to stay out of Manhattan." The last sentence was muttered to himself but Anabeth managed to hear it.

**AN: Please review or comment, I want to hear what you have to say. **

**Q: What school does Drew go to?**

**This isn't confirmed but its hinted at in the Kane Chronicles. Keep reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Gosh this has been slow. Sorry, but I got sidetracked with school coming up and then I actually checked my email and saw I had three new reviews *fan girl scream*. So I felt guilty about how short the chapter was and extended it. And now I will respond to said reviews.**

**BadWolfRisen: ****I am throughly stunned and amazed at the same time. Great is a word I like to hear. Sneaky Riordan, I know right? I will try my best to keep up with what I'm doing. Here's the update.**

**trustingHim17: yet again thanks. I love it when I get reviews and even more so when they praise my writing.**

**BadassBatman: ****I've only given you a glimpse of Mira so far. Yeah she does seem pretty Mary Sue at the moment but don't judge a book by its cover. I'll try to develope her some more. But have you ever met a person who just seems so perfect at first glance? And then you figure out that yeah she can start varsity basketball and break track records but she's awful at math or she doesn't get along very well with her family? Mira does have weaknesses and I will be bringing them up soon. By the way, love your pen name. Another reason this chapter was late: I went to see the Dark Knight Rises instead of writing Friday night.**

**Right well thanks to people who've reviewed and favorited and followed and all that good stuff. Next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. I wish I did, but I don't. And I bet you wish you did too. Mira is all mine though. Along with some other OCs.**

Chapter Eight~I Break Some Rules

8 Months Ago

Mira PoV

I slept until night fall. Don't ask my how I knew but I woke up exactly at sunset. I popped right out of my bed and reached for the light switch. Then I remembered what I had been doing before I went on that last mission. Iron Man was kind of obsession of mine. I had upgraded my penthouse with JARVIS. Although it wasn't name JARVIS and it would only respond to me. So when I moved out it would self destruct, handy right? Plus I kinda sorta borrowed it from Heaphestus, my waaaay older brother. Which makes it that much awesomer.

"Tony, turn the lights on, mmmk?" (Don't judge, real heroes have every right to enjoy comic books about super heroes) The lights flashed on. The world was dark outside. I drew the curtains and got myself ready. I took a shower, pulled my hair back and toyed with my appearance a little. I didn't think any one at Camp had ever seen me with my hair back. Not even with a headband.

So I pulled it up into a high ponytail, added a ribbon, and then enough makeup to be worthy of the Aphrodite Cabin. I hated it, but at least now they wouldn't recognize me. I changed into Nike shorts and a t-shirt, and then pulled a hoodie over my shirt.. I was ready to go now. I smiled at the mirror and thought if I laughed I could pass as an evil villain.

I grabbed the three back packs and took one look at the pent house. I had a feeling I might not come back here at all. I was still unsure whether I should try to get to Alaska or risk living in Brooklyn. Going to school there was different from living there. No weakness, I told myself. I flicked the light switches and walked out. I pulled out my iPhone and pretended to be obsessed with it in the elevator. I walked out into the lobby, trying my best to keep the device in front of my face.

I walked out onto the still crowded streets. I slipped my hands into my pockets and didn't make eye contact with any one. I took the stairs down to the subway and hopped the first train heading in the direction of Long Island. When I got to the island I had to run to Camp but it didn't bother me that much. It was a pretty good workout considering I as hauling about fifty to seventy pounds of weapons.

I got to the Camp border and stayed back in the shadows. There was a sentry plus the dragon curled around Thalia's Pine. I pulled out my orange Camp Half Blood shirt, my purple shirt for the Legion, and all my pictures of me with my friends. I grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it a good distance to the right. The sentry ran over that direction, I felt sorry for them, kind of. They were obviously a newbie. I ran up to the archway into Camp, it was right next to Thalia's pine. I looked down at the valley for a split second. Then I laid my things on the ground and stepped back. I pulled a vial of Greek fire from my bag and smashed it on the small pile. Then I pulled my necklace off and threw it into the flames.

What I was doing reminded me of Camp HB's ritual for the dead. I realized that this was my funeral of sorts. The Olympians would be searching for Mira. I would have to be someone new. I took two steps back and glared at the valley once more. The Mist shimmered as I turned my back on my old life and took off running. I tossed my bag of weapons into the river before crossing back into the city. I made my way to the first hideout, making my trail as obvious as possible.

I spent the rest of the night heading from hide out to hide out. Sometimes leaving an obvious trail, sometimes leaving no traces at all. When daylight came I checked into a hotel using the Mist to convince the lady in the lobby that I was twenty two. I didn't pick any thing big or flashy, just a room with a single bed and a bathroom.

I slept until sunset again. I took a quick shower and went downstairs to check out of the hotel. I went to some more of my hide outs that night. I went back to some of the old ones. There was someone on my trail now, I could tell. Well then let the games begin. I went to a different hotel and used a different name with a different background story and then slept until about noon.

I was roaming the streets of New York sipping a coffee from Starbucks when I discovered the Fates hate me. I spotted five very familiar people. I instantly reached into the pocket of my jacket and pulled out a pair of sun glasses. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my jeans and pretended to be your typical teenager. I pretend yelled into my phone about meeting up at the mall. My eyes followed that table in the cafe though.

There were five demigods sitting at a table, passing around a silver laptop. Screw it all. A blond with gray eyes, Anabeth. A big burly guy with dirty blond hair and dark eyes, Jack, Clarisse's second in command. An Asian girl wearing a perfectly coordinated outfit, Drew. I hated her. If wasn't worried about them recognizing me I would have stopped to snap a picture of her wearing sneakers. The fourth kid was a newly claimed child of Hermes, I'd only met him once. His name is Mark? Mat? Something like that. And the last one, my stomach twisted itself inside out. Blond hair, blue eyes, light tan, and a smile that was bright enough to blind. Why the heck did he have to show up?

Shut up, I told my mind. Emotions are bad, be unattached. This game's going to get dangerous. I shoved childhood memories aside for the moment. It wasn't too hard to convince myself this was a training exercise. They were the chasers, I was the runner. I did stuff like this all the time. It was the Roman way of life. Forget your friends, kill your enemies, win the war. Mars's motto for success. The demigods were all scrambling to their feet now. Bring it on, I thought.

I pushed my way through the crowded sidewalks and reached into my pocket for my subway ticket. I left my sunglasses on but put my phone back. By now Anabeth would be searching for the signal that wouldn't be there. That would, in their minds, confirm that I was the target.

Well I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I was watching Anabeth and when she pulled out her Yankee's cap I prepared to run. I was watching them over my shoulder. I was daring her to put it on. And then she did.

"Oh my freaking gosh she disappeared! That girl just got kidnapped by aliens! They took her RIGHT OFF THE STREET! ITS THE END OF THE WORLD! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" I shrieked as loud as I could and snapped after that little rant. Everyone started to panic. In a moment it was chaos, the crowd was pushing against everyone, trying to move all different directions.

I took off sprinting, shoving through people. I checked behind me once and saw the demigods had all pulled their weapons out and were trying to follow me. Time for a little bit more fun. "THEY'VE GOT WEAPONS, THEY'RE AFTER ME! TERRORISTS, ALIENS, SOMEONE STOP THEM!" By now police sirens were wailing and the streets were crowded with people. To add to the effect I zapped on of the streetlights, making it explode. I didn't stop and think about that right now though. It was a dangerous game I was playing. I had to do whatever to win. Well almost whatever, I drew my line at harming innocents in any way.

I disappeared into the crowd. The first thing I did was burst into a store. I quickly found the fitting rooms and changed into my spare clothes. I should have done something about my hair. Fourteen years of Aphrodite will do things to you though, I couldn't bear to change it. I knew I was being stupid. So I quickly put it in a bun, grabbed some new sunglasses off a rack, and went back out onto the street. The demigods were surrounded by a crowd of people, mostly police. And then the blond boy held a hand up, I turned away. I knew what would happen. I managed to go two blocks without looking back.

The line of police men were lying on the ground unconscious. They weren't harmed, just knocked out. They'd be fine, unless he was mad. And there was a very good chance he was mad: at me. Normally he had control, but this wasn't very normal. I shut my brain off expect for my survival skills. All that thinking would get me caught or worse killed. I had to make my way to Brooklyn now.

I ditched the half-bloods in the subway twice. Once I hoped on the train, went to the other door and hoped off right before it closed. That was when they had just got on. I took a train in the opposite direction and bought myself an hour to rest and think.

The second time I pulled the emergency stop cord after the train started moving. I kicked open the doors, hoped out, and ran out into the darkness. The chasers followed closely. I had a two second head start though and it was enough time for me to jump onto the last car of the train that had just passed by. That time I only got a few extra minutes.

I was almost to Brooklyn. The chase had been going for a hours. Why hadn't I gone to Brooklyn in that extra hour? Those reasons ares many and complicated. Okay they're not all complicated but there are a lot of reasons. One, I had a master plan that involved running around New York for a few hours. Two, I wanted to see if my old friends were really just going to hunt me down and capture me. From what I'd seen they were going to do just that. I added the next reason after finding that out. Three, I was mad at them and wanted to toy with them a bit for all they'd done. Four, the longer it took, the more irritated Hera would be. Them taking forever would boost her anger.

By now I had run circles around them, left my scent on practically every subway train in the city, and now I was going to give them hell. I walked up to the street level again and ducked into the first payphone. I dialed a random number. When the person answered I yelled into the receiver, "Come and get us! Your tasty half blood dinner awaits!"

No I'm not crazy. Or insane. I'm just a girl with some determination and a craving for revenge. Any monsters that weren't already on our trail would be now. That phone call would ensure that. Man were those other demigods screwed. I planned on ditching them just outside of Brooklyn. The monsters would find them. They would be able to fight their way out, I was sure. But it would be a pain in their butts. And yet again, it would take a while, I would slip away, and leave them with a pissed off queen of the gods.

I hummed to myself and muttered the words to my new favorite Taylor Swift song. "They should keep in mind, they should keep in mind, there is nothing I do better than revenge!" The hunters burst out of the subway just in time to hear my evil villain laugh. And then the chase resumed. I lead them through alleys, over chain link fences, through hotels, and then finally back into the subway. They got on the same train as me, only a different car. I pushed my way up to the surface, just a few seconds ahead of them. We were just inside Brooklyn now, and they realized that. They were nervous but they followed me into a run down street full of old warehouses. We were in the middle of three or four of them when I stopped running.

Blondie was just two seconds behind me, and in fact when I stopped he dove for my feet. He crashed to the ground a little bit to my right. He got up and was panting a little. The rest of the demigods caught up a moment later and they were all gasping for air. I would be lying if I said that run didn't even bug me. I was a little short of breath, but not as bad as them.

Anabeth pulled out her knife and pointed at me. "Okay it ends here traitor. We've got you." The other kids pulled out their weapons. I smiled in spite of that. I didn't even make a move for mine. And then I laughed, this was a genuine laugh.

"I'm no traitor." I stated calmly. "Fight me now, and-"

"Shut! Up! Mira!" Jack shouted. They way he yelled my name made it sound like a question though. I took off my sunglasses and I looked at him staring right into his eyes.

"The one and only," I said coldly. He shuddered once. That had been a joke. Now it was a weapon to use. I was dredging up old memories for him.

"Less talking more fighting!" Jack shouted as he charged me. I used some karate moves on him and then hit one of his pressure points. Jack was an amazing fighter, but he didn't have the brains to take a thinker.

"Engage the hostile," Anabeth said quietly. She pulled on her Yankee's cap, Drew grabbed a pair of tweezers from her purse (typical child of Aphrodite), and Mat had a sword.

Blondie looked at me and pulled out a golden bow with a look of disgust in his eyes. I was just a traitor to him, nothing else anymore. You'd think ten years of friendship would result in a little more loyalty.

"Now hon, why don't you just shut up and come with us. WE can find you a nice dreary cell where you belong. Orange would soooooo be your color. And I hear prison food helps you lose weight. That is if your lucky enough to be kept alive." Drew was charm speaking. I let my eyes mist over and I held perfectly still. Then I shut my eyes and recited.

"Run, run as fast as you can. The monsters might not catch you half humans." The demigods shrieked as they realized all the monsters that had surrounded us. I opened my eyes in time to see Drew riding Mat piggyback away from the monsters. Anabeth wasn't visible but I could hear someone shrieking about the giant tarantula in front of me. Jack had just woken up and took one look at the situation before he bailed.

That left me, Blondie, and Anabeth inside a ring of monsters. One of the not so friendly dragons sealed us in the circle with a ring of fire.

"We have to get out of here!" Anabeth cried as she became visible. She shot me one last death glare as she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the flames. "I hope you get overwhelmed slowly traitor! And there will be Hades to pay in the Underworld." The two of them didn't look back at me as they ran through the smallest portion of flames. The monsters closed the gap around me as I watched them leave.

"Ten years. Ten years. But then again I didn't expect a Roman to have a heart big enough for loyalty to their friends and their Legion. I hope Juno gives you a medal, or better yet I'll give you one." I pulled something small and glittery from my pocket and chucked it into the air. I sailed over the ring of monsters. My aim was pretty good, I thought it would hit him right on the head. That wouldn't knock any sense into him though.

My outburst had started me on an adrenaline rush. I pulled out a sword and dropped my stuff on the ground. I started to spin the sword, checking the balance. I could adjust to new weapons fairly quickly. This one I had used before so it took an even shorter time.

"Hey uglies!" I shouted to the monsters. "Came back to get beaten up again? If you're after a big three half blood dinner I'm sorry to disappoint but I got kicked out of the family. So I can kill some of you for the forty seventh time, or you can leave me alone."

They chose death. A soldier's breaking point is where they start to get overwhelmed as an individual fighter. Mine varied from monsters to circumstances. Right now though it was pretty much the lowest it got. Low sleep, stress, distracted mind, no back up, and no powers. Still I felt confident I could take the monsters around me. There were roughly fifty, varying from vampires (I call them that just to annoy them) to wind spirits to that dragon and even to the gorgons. Wasn't I special. Thank goodness I didn't get Medusa too.

I started small, vampires. Their charm didn't work on me, trust me I'd been sweet talked by all of Aphrodite's immortal kids. You build up immunity after a while. Then I moved up to the storm spirits and then after them the gorgons. I made sure to notice which vial came from which side. I would pick my trophies up latter. That left the dragon, oh joy.

He was pretty small, only the size of a double-decker bus. He looked sort of blind in his left eye and he was missing a small portion of his tail. His scales were a dark brown color. Absolutely ugly. And he was pissed off at me, yeah I didn't want to be in front of that dragon. Still I swung my sword around in front of me and tried my best to act normal. Some monsters actually can smell fear.

"Have I met you before? You look familiar." It growled. "Hmm maybe a few years ago. I don't know, I don't really pay attention to the smaller monsters that I kill. Maybe I met an older brother of yours or something." The dragon opened its mouth but I was already moving. I ran forward and dove to the right while tucking into a somersault. I stood up at the dragon's side. I stabbed a sword under its armpit and then rolled under its stomach when it turned around to look at me.

I came right next to the two vials of gorgon's blood and then my eyes lit up. I had killed the monsters when they were facing me so my right was their left. I grabbed the vial of poison and rolled out of the way as more fire was shot toward me.

"You roar like a hatchling," I taunted. "I most definitely did not fight you before. Your waaaay to small for me. In fact I'm ashamed I'm fighting you now so I'm just gonna leave. I gripped the vial tightly in my right hand as I turned my back on the monster and walked toward my stuff. Lets see, three seconds for the insults to sink in, four more for it to decide what to do, and then take one second to aim and throw. I counted to six in my head and then spun around and chuck the vial like a would a weapon.

The dragon had just opened its mouth to shower me with flames. The vial met the flames in the back of its throat and I ducked down. Gorgon blood is extremely flammable. The vial exploded and the poison created a lethal fire ball inside of the dragons mouth with shot out its mouth and down into its stomach. The dragon exploded in gold dust and the flames came straight at me. I imagined them surrounding me to make it look like I was on fire. I was in a nice little warm cocoon and then I waved a hand and they blazed brighter with a poisonous green fire.

I shrieked as loud as I could and then fell back to the ground (alright I admit it...I can be a drama queen). The flames dimmed down but still kept burning around me like they were burning my body now. I kept my eyes open though. I saw the demigods slid down the fire escape and come down on the ground. There were still small fires burning around the place. They hit the piles of monster dust and flared up in front of the demigods.

"She's toast hon," Drew shouted.

"Yeah there's no way she survived that!" Anabeth replied. "C'mon we have to get out of here before the fire reaches the warehouses. This quest is over. Hera said dead or alive. If that's not dead then I don't know what is."

I heard footsteps as they walked away. I listened closely. I had to hear all five people leave. I let the fires start to dim back to what they'd been before. I lay there on the ground for about ten minutes. My arms were starting to hurt, I fell pretty hard. Not like a pretend fall but an actually fall, the demigods had to been convinced I was dead. And they had been. Even though I kinda over did the screaming and shrieking.

I stood up and looked around. The other vial from the gorgon was laying on the ground. I felt pretty beat up and tired right now. Beside I could always go hunt the monsters down if I wanted more. So I opened the vial and drank it in one gulp. It tasted sweet and I felt it rushing through me in an instant. It was like an adrenaline rush combined with your favorite person giving you the best compliment in the world and then the thrill of a roller coaster.

I stretched out a bit and picked up my sword. I did a few handsprings to make sure I was on my toes and fully energized. I could do anything now. That was when I noticed the writing on the ground. It was written in ash but I knew the hand writing.

**Mira-237 Christian-0**

**I wasn't here. You could have taken them.**

**Why?**

I stared at those words on the ground for a little longer. Two hundred thirty seven, the number of points I would have earned in our games for defeating all those monsters. We were always pushing each other, always in a competition. We both agreed long ago that even trying should be worth something (even though I was taught there is no 'try'). A zero meant he was admitting he did nothing. And those words. That was like eight years ago. He remembered those words after all that time? I had been that important to him? No I couldn't have. He hadn't helped me, he hadn't looked back. He'd just moved on. Like a Roman should.

Like maybe before I'd seen that I might have. There are things that even ten years of friendship won't help you understand. I could predict what move he'd use in a fight two seconds before he did that move. We had our own sign language and short hand for when we'd sneak out and fight monsters on our own. At times I could even finish his sentences. And he could do the same for me. But I had no clue what this meant.

Why what?

I pulled my iPhone out and snapped a picture of the words. I shouldn't be holding on to things from my old life. But this was one thing and one person I didn't want to give up. If I could, I'd ask him the same question right now.

**Q: The gorgons stated in the SoN that blood from one of their arms was poison and the other was a 'cure all'. Which comes from which side? **

**Its a 50/50 question.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Alrighty, well this has taken awhile. I have an extremely teribble excuse that would take a page to explain but I can sum it up in two words, High School. Yep I go back to school on Thursday and its been craziness getting supplies, locker combo, the school put me in the wrong classes and I still have to fix that, and then all the rest of that High School crap. On the bright side we're getting forgien exchange students and I really am looking forward to meeting them.**

**You guys freaking rock, you know that right? These reviews made me feel like I was flying.**

**gracetang28: ****Aww thanks. Here's the next chapter.**

**Shyer Elizabeth: ****Good freaking lord, that first paragraph. I screamed, I've worked so much on my writing. To hear that I'm doing all the things that I'm constantly called out for right, that was awesome. Who doesn't? Mira's pretty darn hard not to love.**

**'Christian Problem'? Dang, its got a name now. I didn't realize how interested people were in that. He will definetly be playing a part in this story. Mira can come off as Mary Sue but she's unique and once you read a bit more you find out she does have problems. Don't judge a book by its cover. Yeah, BAness going on in that monster fight, you'll see she made - jealous (insert name there). Read the chapter to find out!**

**No problem, I felt like I got a lot out of your review. As I writer I understand hating it when people drop letters and periods. Ohh someone remembered the question! Good job.**

**Gillis:**** Aww, 'nother complitment. Thank you. Originality? Yes! I knew my story was different but I haven't read close to a fraction of the cross over stories so when people tell me its original I feel alot better. Annabeth, oh crap. I was spelling it wrong. Thanks for pointing that out. And perfectionests are pretty cool (cause I can be one and I say so XD)**

**Spidermite: Here would be the update. Yet again, sorry it took a while. My crappy excuse was given above. And now for the chapter. Thanks to all you wonderful reviewers who spent time giving me your thoughts, that really motivates me. :D**

Chapter Nine~No I'm not Okay...I'm Hannah Montana

Eight Months Ago

Mira PoV

I put my iPhone away and then turned around. I wouldn't let that bother me. I would move on, bounce back, whatever other phrases you'd like to insert there. I could live a mortal life, no gods, no quests, no craziness. I could go to school and not worry sneaking out every morning. I could go to more sports competitions, have more sleep overs, and just live life more. Its hard to have a full teenage experience when you're spending half your time training to slay monster.

My dreams could be a priority. My dreams for myself. Not the Olympian's dreams for me, or the Roman Legion's. The Olympians wanted me to be the 'hero' of Olympus, yeah well Percy got that title. And the Romans wanted me to get their Eagle back from Alaska, I really wasn't looking forward to that either. And then with Gaea rising, I would have been a leader for sure.

I didn't have to worry about defeating her any more though. I didn't have to worry about trying to make each of the Big Three feel like they were my only parent. Balancing my time between the Olympains so I didn't 'show favoritism'. I wasn't going to be in demand one year and ignored the next. I'd find friends who'd stick with me all the time. And I wasn't going to be passed around like some toy or treated like the family pet that every child in the family wants to claim for their own.

I had a future that wasn't going to be defined by prophecy from a semi-crazy ginger girl (no offense to gingers). I stood there and then laughed for a moment. The words flashed through my mind again like those commercials do, just trying to get you to remember a few important words. Friends, free future, my dreams, my life, boyfriend. Boyfriend? Where did that come from? I laughed again, I'd figure that out later.

Maybe being interested in a nice mortal boy is something I wanted. The kids at Camp were just not boyfriend material. Or at least not my type, I wanted a mortal life, remember. A boyfriend who will sing you a love song while sniping monsters with some arrows is...well yeah. Or a guy who wants to a pick a fight with anyone else that looks at you for more than a split second. Or a guy who offers to take you out trench digging or fort building. Or a guy who will _pick out your outfit every day for you and organize your closet by color. _Those are just the few I remember. I don't want to even mention the other Aphrodite boy who tried to take me on a evening walk, all nice and romantic and his sisters stalked us.

The best attempt that had been made was when one boy gave me an anklet. It was a simple chain, but it was charmed to be unbreakable. The single charm on it was a sun with rays shooting off of it. It was made out of a dog tag from a hell hound, the prize that had been left when we defeated the monster together. That had been a gesture of friendship, I think. I had never gotten the chance to consult an Aphrodite girl and ask if that had been a romantic gesture. But that didn't matter now. I was dead to him. You can only date a ghost if you're Nico.

I was pulled out of my thoughts a second later.

I heard footsteps behind me suddenly. After years of practice I didn't tense up or change my breathing pattern. I just stood there looking at the words a little longer. I was still holding my sword but I could have taken whoever this was without it. I counted in my head and when I thought he was exactly behind me I turned. I raised my sword and slashed at him. He pulled a strange hook shaped weapon out of thin air and quickly redirected my sword. Thus started the sword fight. I slashed and stabbed at him, ducked and rolled to avoid his blade.

Our blades met again and he twisted his a little so my sword was hooked on his. Then he tried to wrench it from my grip. I planted my feet and we started a battle of strength. Then I just let go and ducked. My opponent was startled and his blade went flying with mine, geez he was strong. I kicked his legs out from under him and stood back while he got up.

He charged me and I dropped to the ground in the splits. Then I brought my legs together while laying back and used my legs to kick him over me when he dove. His momentum sent him flying across the opening. I didn't waste any time picking up his sword and mine and then marching across the clearing. I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the nearest wall.

I pulled him up I laid the edge of my blade across his throat. "Who are you?" I asked. I was sure he was after me too but I'd never seen him before. He was too old to be unclaimed and a bit too skilled to have survived outside of Camp and not attracted every monster in the US. Besides he didn't even look like a demigod. He had dark skin, dark eyes, and dark curly hair. Not that I'm being racist or anything but this guy looked like a soldier out of Arabian Nights or something.

The gods have every type of kid imaginable. When I left Camp HB we'd just gotten this Russian girl. However you never see kids who look like they're from Egypt or somewhere over there. The gods really don't like that general area.

"Carter Kane," he answered calmly. Okay I was suspicious. He didn't seem scared of me, and I was pretty scary. He narrowed his eyes at me and then suddenly I was pushed back by an unseen force. I stumbled back a few more steps and then took up a defensive position. There was this blue aura about Carter now and it formed into something more solid. It was like he was encased in a giant energy suit. Kinda like a mech suit from Avatar, only it looked weird. It had a falcon head, and it mimicked his exact movements.

He pulled a sword out of nowhere and that put me on edge. I couldn't help it, I yelped and then turned around ready to run again. He had magic items and some form of magical protection. That was not good for me. He took one step toward me and I turned and grabbed my pack off the ground. Someone else grabbed me by the hand. I didn't think, I just turned toward them and kicked. I caught him off guard and landed a solid blow to his stomach.

He still wouldn't let go of my arm so I grabbed his hand with mine and also grabbed that hand with my free hand. I did a cartwheel, using his hand as an axis. I heard a groan as his arm twisted. He let go after that. I picked up my bag and turned toward the nearest alley. Perhaps there was a good reason to stay out of Brooklyn.

A bird flew down in front of me, a tiny little thing. And then it changed into a human girl right in front of my face. What the heck was happening to me. I spun around and found myself surrounded by the strangest group of kids ever. They were majority wearing black cotton pjs, you know like you wear if you take karate. There were a few kids dressed normally though. The other thing was that there was a kid who looked about college age (so not really a kid) and then there was an eight year old.

It was the single most diverse group of psychotic fighting children I have ever seen, which is saying something cause look where I grew up. To be honest, I panicked. I'd been through enough these past few days and I thought I had been home free. Whatever can go wrong will, and here I was facing another fight. I didn't want this, I just wanted to collapse on the ground.

But at the same time I was angry, angry beyond belief. Whoever was out there in the universe in charge of destiny would get a hell of a speech about justice if they showed up right now. I looked over the group surrounding me again. My mind started picking out the weakest links.

_Don't just stand there, fight! _I heard the voice roar in my mind. It was Mars, just like in our mock fights. Always taunting, picking out mistakes, encouraging me to fight some more. Giving up is not an option.

_Get out of my head. I'm not part of your family anymore, you can't tell me what to do. _Having a mental argument with a fictional voice in your head isn't something you should do when your surrounded. It gives people a change to sneak up on you. I felt something hard at the back of my neck and a moment later I got the typical, 'don't move or else' speech.

"Don't move, we don't want to hurt you. Just come with us and answer our questions." It was a girl who spoke, with an authoritative voice and a slightly British accent. It sounded so familiar but I couldn't place it. I took another look around the circle, in fact, they all looked familiar.

But if I recognized them, why didn't they recognize me? Maybe I really didn't know them. Maybe my stressed out over exhausted mind was playing tricks on me. I should just surrender and follow them to where ever. I didn't think I could fight my way out of this.

Something inside of me snapped, I'd gotten so close. And then these guys decided to ruin it for me. I got kicked out of my family, chased around NY by my ex-brother's girlfriend, and now I was facing another group of demigods. No freaking fair. First of all because I didn't know about them and second of all because enough had gone wrong in my life these past two days.

I'd had my fair share of fighting for my life. I thought I was home free, I could live a normal mortal life. Life isn't fair, deal with it kid. Another one of Mars's frequently repeated lessons.

I spun around and grabbed the girl behind me's staff. I managed to push it in between out bodies and then I swept her legs out from under her with a foot. She had been too distracted staring at my face to notice until she was on the ground.

"Stay back," I warned. I was turning around so that I could see everyone. Someone took a step forward and I glared at them. "Leave me alone!" I shouted. I was losing it, what was left of my mind. Deep breaths, calm down. "Let me go, we don't have to fight any more...I don't have to fight any more." I whispered the last part. My voice cracked a little and I felt like I was begging.

The boy I attacked a minute ago stood up and joined the circle. I stared straight at him. Turns out he recognized me too. "Mira, Mira Pharaoh. Don't you know us? We go to BAG with you, we're your friends." Walt Stone, I knew him. I knew him pretty well actually since the girls and boys did basketball scrimmages together sometimes. And then he said the word 'friends'. You can't blame for my response, after the day I'd had 'friend' had become my new definition of 'person who wants me dead'.

So instead of tackling him with a hug or dropping my weapon and being like 'oh yeah, hey guys. How's your break going? Fancy meeting you here...' I lowered the staff and raised my sword. Walt took a step forward and I held my sword out in front of my as a precaution. Could I trust him, could I trust anyone? My world was topsy tervy, I was going crazy, and I couldn't rely on anything to be the way it was before. Could I rely on him?

I wanted to, I really wanted to drop my sword and convince myself this was a nightmare. Or better yet hit myself on the head and get amnesia. I wanted to act like I didn't know what I was doing, like I was that crazy happy girl from school who always had a smile. Like I didn't know about fifty different ways to kill a monster, or how to use practically every type of sword there is. Like I was a young naive teenage girl who knew none of this and never would. But I wasn't, and I couldn't forget the past couple of days. If ten years meant nothing, than one school semester was like knowing him for two seconds.

There was nothing I could rely on, not him, or any of the other kids I recognized from school. He took another step forward and I didn't lower my sword. "Friends Mira, drop the sword."

Something shimmered around Walt and suddenly I didn't see him any more. I saw someone very similar to Walt. He was Walt crossed with Nico practically between his looks and his style. And he was looking right at me. I'm pretty sure that's where I lost it for good. I couldn't hold back my reaction to that. I stood there with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

"Ugh, bloody hell you kick hard Mira." Sadie stood up behind me, clutching her side. She shook her head and her blond and pink hair flew about her face. "Alright you've got to teach me that." She told me with I grin. I managed to close my jaw and make my eyes go back to normal.

That teen I didn't know who'd attacked me first stepped forward and tried to take control of the situation. Tried, I know for a fact no one can control Sadie Kane. "Sadie, who is she?"

"Mira, duh. Walt said that already." She turned back to me, "I'm afraid my brother's a bit slow. Sorry about that. Anyways, Mira, Carter, Carter Mira." Carter stared at me a little longer and then turned away.

"Magicians, return Brooklyn House unless you were on guard duty. Walt, Sadie, I need you two here with me and-"

"Jaz, Jaz needs to stay too." Sadie told Carter. The group all broke up and headed off to where ever they were supposed to be. Which left me in one of the most awkward situations ever. Some of my best mortal friends weren't as ordinary as I thought they were. And I was a hell lot more than they thought I was.

Jaz gave me her signature peppy smile and tried to hug me. When I flinched and stiffened up she stepped back looking a little hurt. She retreated to join the semicircle of my mortal friends, plus Carter. And then this Arabic looking girl came and joined the circle, giving Carter a single glance. He nodded and she stood beside him.

It was five against one, and they were all lined up like they were judging me. We were just staring at each other for the moment, trying to puzzle out secrets in the silence. Jaz was the one to break it.

"So Mira where'd you learn to fight like that and when can you teach me?" She added a smile at the end. I could tell she was trying to cheer me up, or get me to talk. Do anything but stand there in silence.

"How about we drop the acts?" Carter asked. "She obviously is different from how you know her to be."

"So we're going to sit in a circle and tell secrets? All that mushy 'friendship bonding' stuff? Oh cause that sounds like Sadie." I snorted, and then stopped and looked Sadie over curiously. "You aren't really like that, right?" She shook her head, her blond and pink highlighted hair flying.

"We should go somewhere safe to talk." The girl I didn't know stated.

"Safe by whose definition?" I asked.

"We'll answer your questions when we get there." The girl replied. I was totally going to go with them, cause that doesn't sound like every undercover monster I've met before.

"I'm not moving," I said planting my feet and crossing my arms. "Until I get an explanation."

"We don't have time for stubb-"

"Carter," Sadie said and shut him up. There was a moment of silence. And suddenly I was bombarded by crazy stories and shout outs from five different teenagers. Ever tried to listen to two little kids tell you the same story at once? It was ten times worse than that. My head was spinning five minutes later.

"Alright, just a recap, making sure I've got this straight. You," I pointed to the Arabic girl, "were the sun once, saved the world, got eaten by a snakes, survived, became a foreign exchange student, and your a fire magician. You," moved my finger to Carter, "are Sadie's older, calmer, wiser brother who once hosted the god of battle, your a King right now, you can change into a bird, and you've saved the world twice. Something about a red guy a pyramid, a crazy Russian ice cream vendor, a dwarf, a boat, and your ghost mother that I didn't quite catch."

I can beat his 'how many times I've saved the world record'. I didn't tell him that though. I moved on to Jaz, "you are a healer and you keep those two from killing each other," I glanced at the Kanes. "And did Sadie say you almost died before I met you?"

Jaz blushed, "yeah we'll get back to that later. Sadie, good lord I know so much more about you know. You've saved the world twice, your brother is heroically brave and stupid, you've shared a body with the goddess of magic who tried to split you up from one of the boys you wanted to date, you've saved the world twice too, and you wonder why you helped your brother become a King. I am pretty sure you mentioned a limo, some demons, and Jelly Babies too. That story is also for later. Oh yeah, and your dating two guys at once and they're both fine with that, in fact they share the same body. I really didn't hear anything you said Walt, smart move to let Sadie do the talking. Wait do I call you Walt or Anubis? Ow my head." I felt a pang and grimaced as I gently rubbed my forehead.

"Your a fast learner." Carter observed. "And you've got a great memory. And you can fight." Way to state the obvious. But at least now he wasn't glaring at me. I think we started off on the wrong foot. Beating up a guy and then having your class mates introduce you too generally does not start friendships.

"Fight, she kicked your butt!" Sadie laughed. "Shouldn't we move now? You can tell us your side of the story later Mira. Just please tell me that you aren't a government agent and you don't think we're crazy."

"Well that's a lot to take in but I've heard crazier, and you will too as soon as my story get started. And why do we have to move, I'm sooo comfortable right here." It was half sarcasm half truth, I was tired, exhausted, and confused. The rush from the Gorgon's Blood was gone and my head was still trying to sort the info dump I got from the magicians. Did I believe them? At the moment, yeah.

"The monsters," that other girl said. Not knowing her name was bugging me.

"Right, girl whose name I was never given, the monsters are gone for the moment. That was all of them in the NYC."

"Zia Rashid, and how do you know?"

"Ummm really really really super long story short, I ran around Manhattan for two days straight playing a giant game of hide and go seek with my ex-best friends and family members. I was sleep deprived and half delusional from confusion, sorrow, and anger so I concocted a crazy brave plan that was sure to fail. And my 'chasers' would see me fail so they'd think I was dead when I was really just acting so they'd leave me alone. So I drew all the monsters in NYC to me and then staged my final stand here in the middle of these warehouses with those jerks looking on and not helping me in the slightest. And then I caught on fire and died, they thought I was screwed for sure so they left. And then I kinda bumped into Carter and almost tried to kill him, sorry about that." He stared at me and incoherently nodded.

"And that would be my story in a nutshell. So now that we've shared our deepest darkest secrets and double lives, I'm back in my trusting mood again. So lets go back to your headquarters before I become delusional or decide not to trust you and run off again. "

There was an awkward silence that Jaz turned out to be the one to break (again).

"Mira are you okay?" She looked concerned, like she knew that my problems were a lot larger than I was making them out to be. That even though I talked about that betrayal in such a casual manner it scared me. I suppose she was my next best friend after Christian. We were the freshman cheerleaders on the varsity squad, we were in pop choir together, and we did our geometry homework together sitting in trees on BAG campus. Jaz knew Mira Pharaoh pretty well, but she didn't know Mira, Daughter of Olympus at all. That part of me was dead now, I'd be ignoring her, transitioning into my new definition of 'normal life'. And Jaz would help, I could tell.

So I gave her my best poker face and put a serious look on my face. "No I'm not Jaz. I have a secret I need to tell you. A confession. I lead a double life, and my real name is...Hannah Montana."

"Jaz please tell me you can help her. She's freaking awesome at self defesnse and I was going to have so much fun training her, well training with her-" Carter got cut off by a roar of laughter.

Jaz was giggling like a three year old, Sadie had already fallen to the ground and Walt was trying to help her back up but he was chuckling too so he fell on top of her. Zia looked mortified and that cracked me. I lost my poker face and dropped out of character and joined in the laugh fest.

"Oh my gods," Sadie said, still laughing as she got back to her feet. Jaz wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Mira, that was awesome! The look on Carter's face!" She laughed once more and then clutched her side with a groan. "Ugh, I laughed too much." Carter was frowning now.

"Come on Carter, lighten up. That's the Mira we know and love. Give her some time to adjust, she'll be just fine." Jaz smiled at me and I smiled back genuinely. But I remembered her words, she knew. It would take time.

Will be, not is.

**Q: List these demigods in order from oldest to youngest: Thalia, Nico, Jason, Percy, Hazel, and Bianca.**

**I'm really interested to see what you came up with cause I did this the other day and got really confused.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: All you reviewers rock, I got so many answers to that question! If you just reviewed giving the order than I'm not going to respond to you. I'll just post what I consider ther right order here. Years lived, as in doing stuff not just sitting around the Underworld or the Lotus Casino**

**Youngest up: Bianca, Nico, Hazel, Jason, Thalia, Percy**

**Reasoning: Bianca died at twelve. Her birthday was never mentioned. Nico's wasn't either. He would be twelve now so it was kinda a tie. Tie breaker? Bianca's dead, Nico's alive. Hazel remembered her 13th birthday, Jason has to be fifteen since he wasn't the prophecy child. Thalia stopped aging like hours before her birthday and at this point Jason's been at Camp Half Blood for about two weeks, a little less (Mira doesn't know that though). And Percy's over sixteen. We all know that.**

**By birth DATE youngest up: Jason, Percy, Thalia, Nico, Bianca, Hazel.**

**So either of those answers it right, cookies to the people who got it right. And double cookies for the ones who explained it! Now for reviews that contianed somethign along with the answer.**

**trustingHIM17: thanks :)**

**Gillis: that was amazing. Thanks for typing all that out. High School's great so far, it just sucks my free time away though**

** : thank you very much. When and how? Hmm I don't want to spoil the story. Just keep reading ;) and here's the update you were desperate for**

**sparklegirl18: yet again, I'm not gonna spoil anything. My lips are zipped.**

**Shyer Elizabeth: thank you! I try so hard to get reactions, hearing stuff like that makes me smile. You thought I was Rick? Oh my good freaking goodness gracious! That is one of the biggest compliments I could get. Rick is my writing role model. I feel bad for your boyfriend, he must have been confused. Mira is, well Mira. There are about a million words that describe her but you can only sum her up as this: Mira...the one and only. Ha if it was written already it would all be up here, I'm writing this as I go!**

**Guest: yet again, no spoilers ;) I just don't work like that**

**So I got a lot of questions, must mean my suspense was above par. Well here we go, this one's a bit more emotional and less funny. Mira's kinda down at the moment and she's had a while to contemplate things so here you go.**

Chapter Ten-I Contemplate the Current State of my Life using Yoda's Philosophy

8 Months Ago

Mira PoV

The Kane's mansion/Brooklyn magician headquarters was Olympus worthy. At first I was convinced an Athena kid designed it, then I mentally slapped myself for being stupid. I knew most of the magicians, except for the college age kids and the elementary age kids. The three youngest were about six or five, and absolutely adorable. They reminded me so much of Emme Nakamura.

I felt a pang of guilt, Percy would tell her I was dead. She would cry, she wouldn't know any better. She wouldn't know what really happened to me. But I'm glad that they wouldn't tell her that I 'betrayed' my family. Or worse that I ran away from home, because that would mean I ran away from her. That would utterly destroy her, I don't even think she could comprehend that. But me being dead was probably enough to crush her. She'd already lost her mom and dad to the Battle for Manhattan. And her stepbrother that she had only met once. Ethan.

She was young and innocent, I hoped Percy kept it that way. Told her I died in an accident, and pretended to be sad. Percy loves Emme like a sister, but I'm sure he hates me a lot more than he loves her right now. I just hope that hate doesn't hurt her. That no one else does either, the gods are mixed up in her family too much. Percy doesn't know Ethan was her older brother, Paul doesn't know his nephew who died in a 'freak car accident in Manhattan' along with his parents was a demigod. Sally doesn't know either and-

"Mira!" I blinked and looked up at Sadie.

"Yeah," I answered as causally as I could manage. I leaned back on the couch a little more and tried to ignore the giant statue of Thoth glaring down at me. I felt like it was glaring at me, telling me to get out. Warning me I didn't belong here.

"You heard none of that, didn't you?" Sadie sighed.

"Hey give her a break, she must be tired. That fight was extremely impressive, by the way." Carter gave me a half grin. "No worries, Sadie bores everyone to death." I gave a half hearted laugh. Carter had warmed up to me a lot since we set foot back in Brooklyn House. "You couldn't have taken them without passing out Sadie."

"You want to bet?" Sadie asked taking a step toward her brother. He jumped up from his position on the couch next to me. Although it promised to be a great sibling rivalry fight, I didn't want to see any more fighting today.

I faked a yawn and stood up lazily. "Carter's right Sadie, I'm just out of it right now. A nap would do me some good. One of you want to show me where I can crash?"

"I've got a class," Sadie said with a sigh. "Carter, try not to get lost on the way up. Give her one of the rooms on our floor. See ya Mira." Sadie bounced off to the room that I think was the library. She shot Carter one last 'I'm the better sibling' look over her shoulder before the door shut behind her.

Carter and I started up the five flights of stairs to the top floor. It was awkwardly silent so I said the first thing I could think of. "Do all the magicians from BAG live here? Or do they just train here?"

"Live here, they're from all around the world. In fact none of us are originally from Brooklyn. Sadie's from England, as you know; Zia's from Egypt; Cleo's from Rio," we both grinned at that. "And I'm kinda from all around the world. This is my first permanent home since my mom died." We fell silent for a moment more. I should have said something like 'I'm sorry I asked' or something like that but he stated it so calmly I figured he was over that death.

"Mira, do you think you'll be staying with us? Don't you live in Brooklyn?"

"I lived in Manhattan," I answered quietly. "But that was only since the beginning of the school semester. I lived all around before that. The Bay Area, Florida, Greece, Italy, even an army base." I shrugged my shoulders, "somewhere new every month. Although I came back to New York a lot."

"You lived in Manhattan, without a problem?" Carter frowned. "The gods themselves warned us to stay away from there. And Sadie's been picking up traces of foreign magic for a while now. And then there's those monsters. Well I guess you could take them all so..." He wanted to know, he wanted to know so badly and he was too nice to ask. He wanted to know about my life, my training, and my ex-family.

"I wouldn't say without a problem. But nothing I couldn't handle. I wasn't ever alone, until...yeah well anyways I'll probably be living with you for now, if that's okay."

"Yeah its fine, Jaz will be excited. Anyways, here's your room, I'm on the right and Sadies on the other side of my room. Walt, Jaz, and Zia are on this floor too. And if your going to sleep use the headrest, just a warning."

"Thanks Carter, for all the questions you didn't ask." I gave him a small smile and slipped into my room. I didn't bother looking around, I saw the bed and made a beeline to it. I plunked down on the light cotton sheets and looked at the bizarre headrest I had been told to use. It was covered in little pictures and it did not look comfortable.

I pushed it to the side. Demigod dreams are the worst kind, I got them all the time and there was nothing that could stop them from coming. I'd just take what I was going to get.

11 11 11

_I was in the Apollo temple when this little blond boy appeared out of no where. He pulled out a knife and held it up in front of himself. "Show yourself!" He commanded. I made myself invisible but I stayed silent. He asked me about a million questions in two minutes and I stayed statue still. He got fed up with me and charged. It was like your normal four year play fight, this was an actual battle._

_I dodged and ducked and toyed around with him for a bit. Then I disarmed him, or I thought I did. Turns out he knew martial arts. When I finally pinned him to the ground we were both out of breath. And then he said the weirdest, stupidest thing ever. "That was fun." I was thinking, seriously? Who the heck are you. Only my brother (Ares/Mars) thinks its fun to fight me, the highly trained hyper active four year old prodigy. In fact Mars was why I was here. He was showing me around the home of the Twelfth Legion. We'd gotten into a small fight (small by our standards) and I had left him at his temple repairing some damage. I'm quite the little four year old fire ball._

_I'm serious, I can beat up monster already. I've been allowed to fight the snake women and those vampire girls. Me, being me, hated the caution. I wanted a big challenge and I wanted it now. All my fights were supervised, my family ready to step in if they needed to. And after they'd all step forward with their advice and criticism. Praise was rare as meeting a mortal._

"_I guess it was." And then I laughed. I helped him up and he laughed with me._

"_What's your name? Are you joining the Legion? Do you know your parent?"_

"_Mira, yes, yes. Now same questions." He laughed at me._

"_I'm in the Legion already," he extended his arm. There was weird picture on it, with one vertical line and some letters. "Christian, son of Apollo. Member of the First Cohort. I'm the youngest here right now. Praetor Neil says I'm the best archer he's seen in years."_

"_Romans don't use archers." I said with a frown._

"_Only the children of Apollo," Christian admitted. "But we're pretty good. All First Cohort. Now come with me, and tell me how you got here. You've got to meet the Praetors and get a reading before you can join. Oh and do you have a letter? And then I'll ask my older brother to volunteer to teach you the rules. That means you'll end up in the First like me. Oh yeah, and the war games are tonight, you'd be a great secret weapon."_

_It was a tempting offer, the chance to stay and be a normal demigod for a night. Maybe my life. No, just one night, or however long the repairs took Mars. I wouldn't be allowed to stay after. But they couldn't take me back if I was part of the Legion, right?_

"_Lets go then!" I screamed with joy. I skipped toward the exit. Christian followed closely behind me, choosing to just walk. We were just passing the temple of Mars when it happened. Christian and I were grabbed from behind and pulled inside her temple. The door was slammed shut behind me._

_I turned to face the opponent while reaching for my sword. I had just taken my defensive pose when Christian knocked me down and wrestled the sword out of my grip. "Stay down, don't make eye contact, and be respectful." He was kneeling on the floor with his head bowed. I didn't recognize the person in front of me. I knew his name though._

"_Lord Mars," Christian mumbled in a reverent tone. I stood there for a moment, unsure what to do. The figure in front of us was ten feet tall, a glowing red aura, and dressed for war. He was dressed like a Praetor with several medals lining his chest. And every single weapon known to man seemed to be belted around his waist. His eyes looked upon Christian approvingly, but actually burst into flames when they saw me. _

"_**Show respect mortal!" **His voice shook the temple even as a whisper. He drew a weapon from his belt and I dove after mine. I held it in front of me, as if I could protect myself. I was shaking like a chihuahua. This was not my brother. He swung once at me and I ducked. In desperation I threw my sword at him. It clattered against his armor but by the time it hit the floor I was already out the door. _

_I ran through Temple Hill, thankfully managing not to run into any members of the Legion. I found Jupiter's temple first, but nothing looked familiar. That statue was too harsh looking, nothing like my father. So I ran on. The same was for Pluto, too harsh, too demanding. Neptune's temple was terribly small so I moved on but not before feeling a pang of sadness for my father. He was usually the best tempered. I had hoped his temple could have been a safe place._

_I came upon Juno's last. I heard the sound of people marching down in the valley. There were several horns being blown too. I hoped that meant they weren't coming up here. I ducked inside the temple. It was tied with Mars's for the second largest. It was decorated like a palace, only Roman architecture and statues decoration the place. The artwork was amazing, I could tell without even really looking at the pictures. My feet made a soft pitter patter against the stone floor. Artemis had taught me how to creep about like a hunter._

_I got to the end of the temple and collapsed on the dais Juno's statue was on. I was panting slightly. The door opened at the end of the temple and I turned away, frightened. I scooted up against the bottom of the statue's throne and hid my face against it. "Mother," I whispered about ready to cry. But I remembered the first thing I had been taught about Romans: never show weakness. _

_I took a deep breath and turned around. I simultaneously reached up to feel for my medallion on my necklace. I was back, thank gosh it was enchanted. I slashed to the side and my sword reappeared in my hand. Turns out I didn't need it. Mars was standing in the middle of the temple, only now he looked more like my brother again. Christian was peering through the doors at the back._

_Gold flashed before my eyes and then I was standing behind a pretty woman with chocolate braids (the color), warm sparkling eyes, and a gorgeous white dress. She wore a gold headband with lightening bolts etched on it. She smiled down at me and I smiled back._

"_Mira," She said offering me her arms._

"_Mother," I said as I hugged her. She picked me up and frowned at my sword. She tapped it and it turned back into my medallion that had the symbol of Olympus pressed upon the gold circle. It flew back to its place around my neck._

"_You do not have to fight today my brave daughter. Your chance will come some day when you are more prepared. And your brother will be smart enough to know not to challenge you." She glared over my shoulder at Ares. I swiveled my head around to look at him. He seemed to be afraid of Mother's stare. And even farther behind him Christian had just slipped away from the crack in the doors, his eyes wide with shock. He turned and ran. There went my one normal friend._

11 11 11

I sat up suddenly and clutched my head. The memory was fading from the forefront of my mind. I hopped out of my bed and sat on the floor with my back against the bed. Why did I have to see that? If it had been a memory of anyone else I could have shook it off right away. Or even a clip from the present. Even if the Aphrodite Cabin was spreading rumors about me falling in love with a titan, Nico destroying training dummies made to look like me, and Percy burning pictures from the school semester.

Well maybe seeing Percy filled with hate would have affected me like this too. I had never seen him angry, never. I probably had the best bond with him aside from Christian. I spent pretty much every day with him and Emme. Sometimes on the weekends we'd drop by Camp. I went to Camp without him too but not often enough to bond.

You know when suddenly the star quarterback decides to ask you to Homecoming or maybe you get the lucky half court shot to win the basketball game in the last second or you've got tickets to One Direction. You just get mobbed by people who are all of a sudden so interested in you. Your the person to be, something to fight over. And even though you know how fake it is you try to be nice to everyone and be a friend to everyone who wants to be yours.

You think when suddenly the drama's over and the mob's left you'll have a few people who'll stick around. Who'll realize how amazing you are just being you. I enjoyed fourteen years of being on top of the world, feeling the rush and joy of being wanted. Well it wasn't always a joy. It was a balancing act on a tightrope strung across Niagara Falls.

The rush was over. And I still didn't know why they thought I betrayed them. I knew I didn't, and someone had to have started it. But why? Why not want me anymore? What did I do wrong? I always strived for perfection when in immortal company. They expected me to be on their level and I tried so hard. So freaking hard.

But after the smoke cleared and the rush was over I was here, sitting in bedroom in the strangest mansion ever, in Brooklyn, all alone. With a bunch of teenage magicians and Egyptian statues. And I felt like crying, how pathetic was that? I took a shaky breath. I hadn't cried since I was four. I wouldn't now.

The perfect warrior does not have emotional break downs. But then again the perfect warrior wouldn't be sitting here alone. So I wasn't perfect. I wasn't what they wanted. Other wise I'd have someone here with me, at least one person. But no, I wasn't even good enough for the demigods who knew how it felt to try and impress their parents when they weren't even sure they were watching.

I wasn't even good enough for them. Maybe that's what it boiled down to, I wasn't good enough for them. I could try and try and try but it wouldn't work. I'd just keep failing. Do or do not, go to hell Yoda. It didn't matter that I'd personally rewritten the record books at both Camps. Anything they timed or kept track of a score for had my name next to it. But how was that not good enough for them?

Maybe they just knew. It was a sign. They'd all seen it, like some memo I hadn't gotten. 'Get rid of this girl, she's nothing' I bet my parents got that memo too. Probably only had to take one look at me and they knew 'oh this ones gonna be a failure, abandon her'.

I couldn't take it any more. I got to my feet and walked out into the hallway. Luckily no one was around. I found the steps up to the roof. I climbed them fast, as if I could run away from all those doubts and whys. I needed a dramatic change. A direct opposite. The opposite of why? I know. The opposite of doubt? Certainty.

There was only one thing that I knew and was fully certain of. That was my ability at gymnastics. Lucky for me the roof was mostly empty except for and ancient Egyptian artifact that I didn't even look twice at, and an empty stable for some kind of animal. I slid down into my splits and started stretching.

**AN: Ta dah! I'll try to update soon. Promise. But between flute practice, tennis, cheerleading, advanced classes, and my family I typically run out of time fast.**

**Q: What does Sadie call the youngest kids? Its a specific group name.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Okay, after some stressful days lots of homework, missed school days, tennis meets and some cheer drama I finally found time to write! Review responses**

**sparklegirl18-at this point I'm catching everyone up on what happed to Mira. I've got roughly eight months to fill. As soon as she starts to settle into life in Brooklyn there will be some time skips. HOwever if you want I can do some modern day chapters on the demigods, to show you what they're up to?**

**trustinghim17-I'll see what I can do now that tennis season is almost over I'll have more time to write.**

**King of Heroes Gilgamesh-I don't plan on giving this story up. I spent about three years creating it adding to it every time a new Rick Riordan book came out. I really want to finish it.**

**KronosSlayer21-that's okay, the questions are for fun. Oh and I have plans for Percy, maybe not an OC ;)**

**Shyer Elizabeth-dang another long review! More descriptative, got it. I'll try and focus on that a bit more. I don't think the reason for the name was ever given, but I bet I could come up with one if you want. I'll keep it going!**

**Your review did post. The dream was suppose to be a bit scary and Mira was tutored 24/7 for ten years of her life by 2000 year old beings, I think her wisdom should be slightly scary. Yes, Christian is a Roman! And we will be seeing more of him in this chapter (just a few lines, sorry) and in Mira's next dream. Humor is always good, especially when your trying to keep Percy Jackson characters well, in character. Thank you for the compliments. I actually might try some Book/Cartoon crossovers after this. I've got one for Young Justice and Percy Jackson in the planning and actually a solely Percy Jackson story in the planning as well.**

**Ellie-thank you. I love getting compliments about Mira because she's mine!**

**Thank you to all who responded to the question, the right answer was indeed ankle biters!**

Chapter Eleven~Sadie the Crazy Vows her Revenge and Teaches me Magic...

I tumbled for about an hour or more. I normally would have practiced longer but all I had was the ground. I was unwilling to try some of my routines without a mat and plus I was on a roof and I could no longer catch myself if I fell. There was no vault or balance beam or bars for me to practice so I moved on to cheer leading. It was basically the same thing, except simpler. Jumping, round offs, back hand springs, back tucks. I got bored in a few minutes.

Normally this stuff would excite me, I'd really get into my practice sessions. I'd want to do better when I was messing up. I just didn't feel like it right now. What does it matter, perfect isn't good enough so why even try? That was kinda negative but at the moment I felt like it was true.

Typically I practice hard to a) impress my family and b) be there for my teammates. You practice to get better, you get better because you want to do better, you want to do better because there are people beside you who want to be the best you can be as a team. Together. Basically I work so hard for my friends, because I care about them and I know they work hard too.

So I just stopped, I didn't see a reason to continue. I headed back inside where I found minor chaos occurring. I looked over the fifth floor railing that overlooked the Great Room. Three little kids were chasing Zia around, one of them was zapping things with a boomerang and turning them into My Little Ponies. Two guys were playing video games while sitting on the floor in front of the couch with the volume on full blast. Jaz ran out of the kitchen and calmly shouted for the ankle biters to settle down. What the Hades? Although now that I think about that I should probably start saying 'what the Osiris.' but that just doesn't have the same ring.

And then, to add to that lovely scene a group of middle school age girls entered from the library and apparently those guys weren't supposed to be playing video games. One of the girls tackled the first boy and another girl started chanting in a weird language. I looked up and saw Sadie across from me looking down at the scene. She sighed and then looked up at me and jumped over the railing.

She flipped once and landed on the couch. I smiled and followed her, jumping up onto the railing and holding a crouched position for a moment (think leap of faith from AC) and then springing out into open air. I turned three front flips and then landed on the couch with my feet together and legs straight. There was dead silence.

I resisted the urge to bring my hands up above my head like gymnasts do when they finish with a routine. Instead I turned in a circle, yep, everyone was looking at me.

"Everyone, back to class. Shelby stop chasing Zia please, Angie you can get off Zach. Cat please don't finish that spell I don't want to have to turn John back from a sea lion. Jaz make sure the video games stay off until after six, ok? Thank you." Everyone started to break apart and go to different places.

"And you Mira," I looked down at Sadie. "No one is allowed to be crazier than me! You didn't even scream when I jumped, what's worse you followed me!" I shrugged as ordinarily as I could.

"I've seen people fall from higher, and personally I've jumped from much much higher."

"Oh I was kidding..." she trailed off into an awkward silence. "How much higher?" Leave it to Sadie.

"Umm, do you count sky diving?" I didn't want to freak her out with Olympus. But I had been sky diving before. Long story involving a certain blond boy, a couple monsters, and certain blond boy's older brother.

"You've been sky diving? No freaking fair! I've been trying to convince Carter to let me go since the beginning of the semester but nooo I'm too young."

"You've been a bird."

"That's different." We started a miniature glare off. Sadie squinted at me and I squinted back. We both reached up and snapped our fingers at the same time, only difference: Sadie blinked, I didn't.

"Bloody hell! Where'd you learn to stare like that Mira? Oh and gosh dang." She remembered to be upset about losing at the last second.

"Same person who taught me how to fight."

"You cheated-"

"-at the same time as you. Leave it be Sadie, I'm crazier than you."

"I will not accept this!" She vowed and dramatically shook her fist at the ceiling. " I shall be the craziest again! Hahahaha-"

"Oh please, villains only laugh like that on t.v." She glared at me again.

"Screw it your right. So, umm. I guess...we just...we could...uh I've got nothing."

"Nothing that doesn't involve asking about my family, right?"

"How did you know?" She asked puzzled. I sat down on the couch and stared straight in front of me.

"Wasn't that hard to guess...I know you all want to know. But the thing is, I just don't belong. Not here, not anywhere, certainly not where I was before."

"You belong here Mira. Now pick yourself up and stop this this instant or I'm gonna...gonna sic the anklebiters on you." I waited a minute, and then slowly stood up and followed her into the library.

She lead me to a table and handed me what looked like a sharpened wooden stick, a cup of ink, and a scroll of thick paper. I matched the objects with textbook images a moment later, gosh dang Athena. A stylus, a papyrus scroll, and ink. This was old school.

"This is how I learned, and from Zia no less. Who was not Zia in reality but she still acted like Zia enough. And she hated me back then too. So write the first thing that comes to mind." I didn't even register that my hand was moving. I really did write the first thing that came to mind.

"What is that language?" Sadie asked as she leaned over the paper. Crap I wrote in Greek! Lucky for me the word on the page flared up a moment later and sparks started flying off the page. Sparks, oh gosh. Not again, please not again.

_How'd you know my name?_

_Heard someone say it earlier. Now c'mon Christian Sparks, tell me the future Praetor of the Twelfth Roman Legion is not afraid of a little monster hunt in the dark?_

_Only if the psycho girl who's request I'm putting up with isn't gonna go running off to her mommy when I show her how I kick monster butt._

_It is ON Sparky._

_If you call me Sparky again..._

And I did. I managed to fit his nickname into every conversation I had with him. I had a variety of nicknames for him. I used to blurt out random firework names to annoy him. I called him Roman Candle for an entire day on a dare, his dare actually.

"Mira." Sadie warned, but it was too late. I had already written down several other firework names. And they exploded, flying off the page leaving comet like trails behind them. Then they'd explode in the middle of the library. I kept going, I created a whole mini fireworks show in their library.

I don't know what happened really but I jumped up after writing down a million firework names. As they started to glow and float off the page and turn into little glowing balls of sparks I grabbed them in my hands. I directed them, like a symphony guy would. I pointed at one to fly that way and then one the next way.

I started to twirl about with them. Dancing with fireworks around me, yep I lost it. Kick, step, step, explode, greens on the right, leap, kick, explode, duck, twirl. I pirouetted and then raised my arms above my head. All the remaining fireworks exploded in one final burst.

I smiled and laughed as I spun around again. I was panting a little and kinda tired, but I didn't notice much. Sadie was staring at me with a dropped jaw. Was it that obvious I was different? What had I done wrong?

"Mira, are you tired?" Now that she mentioned it I felt a lot more tired but I was kinda on an adrenaline rush now.

"Yeah a bit, please tell me that's normal." She managed to look not so stunned but I could tell it wasn't normal.

"Yeah, totally normal."

"Yeah, totally a lie." I frowned and put my hands on my hips. Sadie had a stare off with me for all of five seconds before she sighed and looked away.

"Normally after that much magic a beginner would pass out. A beginner wouldn't even be able to come up with that spell. But there are exceptions. The first time I did magic I burnt off Zia's eyebrows. The second time I used it I turned my staff into a tiger I think it was. You could be an exception, you are pretty exceptional." I smiled, just a little at that last comment.

"So that wasn't anything you haven't seen before?" I asked, silently praying for a yes.

"Yeah, its rare, but it happens. Your not a freak if that's what your thinking, and you're not different either, your just...special."

"The teacher's synonym for different."

"What can I say, I make an amazing teacher. A pretty awesome role model, I've rubbed off on Shelby, in case you can't tell. She's the lead anklebiter." I gave her a 'what the crap are you talking about' look. "Um, the dominant little kid. Leader of the flock, ya know."

"So you call the little kids 'ankle biters'?"

"Yeaaaah. Alright I think that magic fried your brain."

"No, your just being a dramatic British teenage girl. Those aren't very easy to deal with, you know. 'Specially not when they start inventing words. Werid words."

"Hey I resent that!" I leaped toward her and grabbed the stylus off the desk. I quickly scrawled a word on the sheet and held it up in front of her.

"Still resent that?" The word fireball, was written on the papyrus. Only I left off the last 'l' so it wasn't complete. I was pointing the scroll at her too. So all I needed to do was add one tiny little line and bam! Instant fireball.

"You'll pass out from exhaustion."

"Want to bet?" I asked wiggling one of my eyebrows.

"Ummm, no thanks. Just put the scroll down. I'm a crazy dramatic British teenage girl. I admit it! And you can be one deranged desperate America girl."

"Thank you very much," I took a mock bow. Sadie sighed again.

"C'mon let's go find something else to do, that won't involve you threatening my life." She took the scroll and papyrus and just chucked them into open space. They disappeared. My jaw almost dropped, I managed to remember I was in a warehouse top mansion full of magicians. Things have to disappear when you've got magicians involve.

"Hey Sadie?" Sadie responded with a couple of mumbled choice words. Then a bit louder she called,

"Yeah Cleo? She's the librarian by the way. Damage a book and she'll be on your case forever." The last two sentences were directed at me in a whisper. A short girl with dark hair and eyes peeked around a bookshelf laden with scrolls.

"Are you showing off again? Because these scrolls are extremely flammable and if those sparks-"

"Were completely controlled. And no worries, I won't blow Mira's mind till tomorrow. Walt wants her to be able to think straight for the game." Cleo gave me a sympathy look and then walked away. There was an awkward silence for a moment. And I couldn't pretend I wasn't curious any longer.

"Game?"

"Yeah, for fun. To relieve the stress of dealing with ancient magic, myths, and very dangerous things all day. Walt's counting on you to play point on his team." It clicked then.

"A basketball game? Co-ed, all ages?"

"You think we have enough kids to go by grade or something?" I cracked a smile. This promised to be fun. I never dominated ball games at Camp, the Apollo kids did. In fact select few were allowed to play with them in the first place. Invitation only. The only time I every was a key player in those games was when they declared it 'everything goes'. Ever try dribbling and sword fighting? Yeah, it was fun but it didn't last long. We only played once but it was fun.

I played point for the girls basketball team at BAG. It had taken a while for me to start pushing myself, I was just so used to the Apollo kids dominating the games that I never really saw myself as a major factor in basketball games. I was a fighter, not a ball player. But my coach managed to tweak my views a bit. I got a lot more confident that I wasn't just some hero who trained and did nothing else, and a sport I could play for fun, not to be better than everyone else or just because I was expected to. And the coach, well she got a Varsity point guard she could have for three more years.

I popped my knuckles with a growing smile. "When do we start?"

**AN: Alright these questions are a bit more opion this time and theres several, it would really help me if you'd respond.**

**Would you like to ignore the Mark of Athena when it comes out or try to tie events from it into the storyline?**

**Do you like longer chapters with slower updates or shorter chapters wtih faster updates?**

**This story will be several chatpers, would you like me to split it up into several different books or just keep as one super long book?**

**Thank you for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay this didn't take so long to get done. And I actually didn't have a lot of writing time, I was going overboard with tennis practice cause Regionals were yesterday and today. Guess what? My doubles partner and I managed to qualify for state! And MoA came out this week and I thought it was a pretty good book. This week things just went right for me, which is why this chapter is up on time!**

**trustingHim17-here would be more! And thank you for being such a regular commentor, comments make my day :)**

**KronosSlayer21-this one's a bit longer, hope you like it. The length varies from inspiration. This chapter just flowed out, it was so easy to write and there was so much to write. I'll try to keep them long though. I'm glad you love it!**

**Guest-thank you for that. I think at this point I will keep it in one big book. Unless it gets super long, or I make a sequel ;)**

**Shyer Elizabeth-you again! Thank you for commenting on every single chapter, as I said, makes my day :) I will do my best to tie in events at this point. I will have some editing to do or some major explaining. I'll probably cut back to real time for one chapter just to tie events up a bit more. Leke explaining how the Romans and Greeks came to a peaceful co-existence and I think I also mentioned that everyone went over seas to fight. I'll probably edit that out. And then of course the whole falling down a deep dark hole will take some sleepless nights and creative thougth power. Okay thank you for your opions and no! You can not have my brain, tis mine!**

Chapter Twelve~I Meet a Basketball Playing Baboon

"Okay are we missing anyone?" Carter asked. His eyes scanned the crowd of vastly diverse magicians assembled in front of him. We were in a big room that reminded me of a gym. It had a hardwood floor and two giant statues at either end of the room length wise that had hollowed out disks on their heads. Basketball court lines were painted on the ground. The adult magicians stood behind Carter, wearing black and white stripped jackets and whistles like referees. They looked just a little bit uncomfortable.

"I'm gonna remind you of the rules, teams are picked by captains. NO magic, standard basketball rules, fouls, court size, and basket heights are used. One game for those sixth grade and under. Everyone else is in the upper age game. The referees are in charge of the game, got it? Okay. Tonight's captains are me and Walt. We'll start off by picking the younger division teams."

Walt and Carter took turns calling names. It was kinda a rapid fire word battle. They each said a name while watching the other to see who was on their team and who they'd pick next. I'm sure there's a strategy behind it but I don't know any of the younger kids yet.

Finally the last of the younger kids was picked and then Carter pulled out a clipboard. Sadie snorted behind me and muttered, 'nerd'. Carter uncapped a dry erase marker and surveyed the crowd of older kids. Walt had picked the first younger kid. Carter scribbled a few things down on the clipboard (it was one of those with a basketball court on it and it was dry erase as well). "Jaz," Carter stated. Walt pretended to think about it a minute, and then he answered with Sadie. Three or four people later I saw Carter looking at me like he was trying to figure out just how athletic I was.

I'm sure Walt was trying to downplay my importance by not picking me first but if he didn't hop to it Carter's team was going to get me first. Walt looked over at me and caught my eye. It was his pick.

"Mira," he said calmly. There was a triumphant glint in his eyes. I slowly walked over and joined the crowd around him. I stood on his right side and faced the crowd of unpicked.

"Khufu," Carter stated. A baboon in a Laker's jersey eating Oreos burst out of the crowd and climbed up to Carter's shoulder. It screeched at Walt and I. They let their pet baboon play basketball? It gave me and evil eye and I raised one eyebrow at it. We were having this kind of telepathic conversation while the rest of the teams were picked

_If you suck I'll wipe the floor with you._

_Your a baboon, I'll be better than you._

_I am a baboon, its a common known fact that baboons are good at basketball._

_Not as common known as you think. And what's with the Oreo?_

_I don't have to answer that question human._

_And I don't have to lose a basketball game to baboon. _I shot him a sassy look and turned back to Walt. There was roughly ten kids in each division (older kids/younger kids) crowded around him. "Okay guys, head over to our bench and grab the jersey's, we get to be blue tonight." There was a small cheer as our team moved toward one of the long wooden benches pressed up against the wall.

I looked across the room and saw Jaz smiling at me from the opposing team's bench. She smiled and winked at me. Leave it to Jaz. Carter was rapidly drawing plays and numbers on his clip board, talking strategy with a boy named Jace who looked about nine years old. Guess he was the team leader in the game.

As soon as Carter finished with the huddle he started assigning duties to the older kids. He put some kids on water duty and a few on clock and score keeper. I shot Walt a confused look.

"Carter's team pretty much always get the game running duties for the younger kids. We get off free, lucky us."

"Is Jaz any good?" She didn't play ball at our school. I knew some of the guys on Carter's team were decent but Jaz had gotten picked first.

"Decent enough guard. She and Carter have set plays though, he always tries to get her on his team and I always try to split them up. She always passes to him with a sign or something, we haven't figured it out yet. It scores more than couple extra points for their team, and Jaz almost always has the most assists if you look at stats." Set plays, that's what made her valuable.

"So she doesn't give up the secret?" I knew the answer to that, Jaz was the best secret keeper ever. "What about Zia?" Zia had also ended up on Carter's team, she was the only other one I'd never seen play ball before.

"No she's just Carter's girlfriend. I don't think she really understands the rules yet. Carter's great at point and he can make up plays in about two seconds. That is why you are guarding him. We haven't won a game since he started practicing with Khufu, who is also pretty good at basketball."

"He sucked before, couldn't even dribble," Sadie added to the conversation. "But your going to be running circles around him tonight. I'm sure Jaz has warned him that your good. He'll probably play men on you."

"You mean 'man' Sadie." Walt sighed and I cracked a grin. Leave it to Sadie.

"Stupid American names. Its only one letter difference!" She protested. I laughed again and she crossed her arms and plopped down on the bench with a humph. Walt sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She tried to push it off playfully. She only resisted for about a second. Then she scooted over closer to him. I felt a light pressure on my shoulders and the back of my neck. I spun around fast, it felt like someone had draped their arm around my shoulder. But no one was there. My heart panged for a second and then I shook it off, I literally shook my head trying to clear my head.

I sat down and started stretching. If I had them with me I probably would have put on my ankle braces, knee pads, long socks, and basketball shoes. I didn't think the game would get that intense though. I'd be playing with seventh graders too, right?

I crossed my right arm over my chest and stretched it out. I started mentally quizzing myself over set plays we ran on the school teams, there was a slight chance Walt might call one of those. I stretched my legs and hips a bit and then stood up. I touched my toes and then spreed my legs apart and leaned back. My arms gently felt into place above my head, my fingers stretching toward the ground. I clenched my abs to keep myself from falling back. I felt the ground beneath my fingers as I laid my palms flat. Then I slowly stretched my right leg up into the air and kicked it over my head. My left leg followed and I stood up again. I did a front walk over too, which was basically the same thing in reverse order.

"Mira," Sadie gestured for me to join her and Walt on the bench. The littler kids crouched in front of them staring at the dry erase board in Walt's hand. I kinda tuned out as Walt wrote down numbers and a few simple in-bounds plays. He went over man to man defense and then gave them a simple offense.

We formed one big huddle and did the thing where you lean from side to side in rhythm. We put our hands in, Walt shouted 'blue' and the screamed response was 'team'. We broke the huddle, five of the littler kids ran out to the middle circle. They were numbers six, seven, thirteen, twenty-one, and thirty.

"You didn't grab a jersey," I spun around. Walt looked rather happy for being Walt, I think I saw a fourth of a smile on his face. "I managed to snatch this one for you though." He tossed a blue jersey at me that he had been holding behind his back. I held it by the shoulders and watched it unfurl. Two ones stood side by side on the front and back.

And then a grin lit up my face. This was my number. "Thanks, I'm surprised you know that."

"I had a couple of chances to memorize it two weeks ago." Two weeks ago, the boys vs. girls scrimmage. The girls had won, by several points. And I had seven lay ups where I knocked the ball out of someone's hand and took off running. No one could catch me. In my coaches words I zipped down the court. That was part of the reason for my nickname Zippy.

The other half of it was one of those bag jokes cause our school is BAG. Zipploc is the brand name everyone knows. I'm the one in the school that everyone knows. Zipploc, Zippy. Yeah, kinda weird connection but I rather liked the name.

"You'd better beat Carter up like that. Our coach made us run a suicide for everyone of those breakaway's you got. Apparently we made it took easy for you to steal the ball." My cheeks flushed just a bit and I shrugged.

"You did," I teased and then laughed at Walt's expression. "Maybe if you'd been running after me instead of staring at my back." I suggested and dogged a playful punch. "Now now, save the fighting for the enemy." I giggled again and slipped the jersey on. Walt was wearing number twenty.

"If I give you a list can you memorize some plays in half an hour? The little kids only play half a game."

"Got it, you guys take this pretty seriously." I said my eyes sparkling with the prospect of a challenge. Walt pulled a sheet of folded notebook paper out of his gym short's pocket. He handed them to me and I unfolded them quickly. I sat down on the bench and tuned out the rest of the world.

It was actually a packet of notebook paper, there were four sheets and each had a play on the front and back. They had the names at the top. Then there was another sheet that had basic information about offense and defense. Apparently they just called those as they were. Pass and cut offense and zone or man defense. Well that was easy to remember.

I set myself to the challenge of memorizing each of the set plays though. I would call them, and in three of them I'd be the one taking the shot as well. I had studied harder things in shorter times. Like Latin during the night. It hadn't come so naturally and I found it necessary to cram over night to be at the level Athena deemed 'ordinary'. And of course I wasn't supposed to be just 'ordinary' so I had to study even more.

I put the papers down and traced out the in-bounds play called 'jet' on the open bench spot next to me. I checked the papers even though I was positive I got it right. And that's when Jaz became an annoying blond cheerleader.

Their team, gold colored jerseys, had just scored two points. "Our team is what?" Jaz shouted, the older kids answered back with an enthusiastic "DYNAMITE!" Jaz did the motions and I shot her an 'oh you did not just do that' look. She smiled and winked at me. I stood up off the bench and stretched my arms again real quick.

No way was I asking the rest of my team to cheer with me but there was something else I could do. I glanced at the score board, two minutes left, we were up by five. After another basketball by Carter's team Walt called a timeout. I smirked at Jaz and mouthed 'watch me'.

I flipped my hair over my shoulder defiantly and strode over to the corner of the room. I turned and ran diagonal. After four steps I picked up enough momentum to launch myself into a very impressive tumbling pass that included four back handsprings and two backflips. I landed with my feet together and legs straight after the back flip and used the rest of my momentum to do a classic cheer jump, the toe touch.

My hands flew up above my head and I turned to Carter's team and bowed. "Go blue!" I shouted at Jaz. She cracked up. Zia's eyes were like saucers. I wiggled my outstretched fingers in the air, spirit fingers, as I walked back to my also slightly in awe team.

"Okay that's was your inspirational pep talk," I told the players. "Go out, kick butt, win."

"Will you do the free throw cheer?" Lindsay asked, she was a fourth grader and our second best guard in the game. She was kinda short but pretty lean and mean.

"If you can get them to foul you so you can shoot free throws, then yes, I will do the free throw cheer. Heck I'll do back flips when you make baskets." Lindsay's eyes lit up. She got a determined look and went back into the game with that fire in her eyes.

She kept her end of the bargain, she got the ball and drove to the basket. One of the golds players got a blocking foul. At that point we were shooting free throws for every foul. Lindsay took her place on the line. She turned and looked at me. I gave her a big smile and started in.

"S-i-n, k-i-t, sink it Lindsay, sink it hey." I put my hand back up in the air with spirit fingers. Lindsay crouch down, spun the basketball in her hands, dribbled it once, and then in a fluid motion sprung up and shot it.

_Swish._ Lindsay looked to be in slight shock. I winked at her when she got the ball back to shoot her second free throw. I swung my arms back and did a standing back tuck. I sprung back up and put my spirit fingers back up in the air. Lindsay's second shot bounded off the rim before going in.

Carter called a time out and I did a short tumbling pass as our kids jogged back to the bench. A round off, triple back handspring, back flip. I jogged back to our huddle.

"If all it takes for you to get aggressive is a cheerleader, Lindsay, I will talk Sadue into cheering." Lindsay giggled and blushed, just a little embarrassed by her success. Walt sounded pretty serious about getting the rest of the girls to cheer, I couldn't see Sadie with pom poms though. Lindsay got high fives from the rest of the older kids and a fist bump that might have hurt a bit from Sadie.

"Dream on, you may be my boyfriend but I do not wear skirts and I do not shake sparkly puffy...thingies!" Sadie yelled in protest. The little kids cracked up. "And I most certianly can not do all those flippy things that Mira demonstarted. and I hate bows and-"

"Okay focus, strong defense, and hold the ball when we get back on offense, got it? OK break!" Walt watched the kids grabbed cups of water and chug them before jogging back out onto the court. Sadie gave him an evil eye but didn't start back in on her protests.

Carter's team lost by six points in the end. By that time I was getting jumpy, I wanted to get out on the court and play ball. We got five minutes to warm up. I felt a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach for a moment. I frowned and looked around, no one else had reacted. I shook my head and muttered about strange things. Baboons, basketballs, oreos, jumping off a skyscraper. I was going crazy, I should just accept that fact.

Carter and Walt had to go help the refs reset the score board. Lindsay shyly offered to braid my hair back into my ponytail. I knelt on the ground as her fingers flew nimbly through my hair, french braiding the section of my hair that would be my bangs, if I had any. The braid came down the right side of my face and then turned back and tucked into my ponytail. I thanked Lindsay and jumped up, ready to start the game. That feeling still puzzled me. I needed to shake it off and focus on the game but...

Either way, I told myself, it doesn't matter now. I can figure it out later. I lined up around the center circle and took my ready stance as a ref tossed the ball in the air. Walt and Carter jumped for it, even though I was told Carter was a guard and not a post player. Walt tipped it toward me. I reacted so fast that Jaz, who was standing next to me, was left watching my number disappear as I dribbled the ball down the court and went in for an easy unguarded lay up.

I jumped, my right knee and arm going up. The _thump, swish_ I was so used to filled the air. That hadn't changed a bit. I slapped hands as I jogged back to our half of the court. "Mira take point," I met Walt's eyes and nodded once. I turned around and jogged backwards while studying the oncoming gold teams formation.

"Pick a man, call a number," I shouted without turning around. I crouched down a little and put my arms up in a defensive stance. "Twenty-eight." Carter Kane. I called.

"Two," Walt was taking Jaz. I grinned

"Forty-four!" That would be Sadie on Zia. That was a good match up. The other two kids called numbers but my brain tossed that information out my other ear. The only thing I noticed was that one of them ended up with the baboon. My eyes never left the ball bouncing from the ground up to Carter's right hand and back again.

I didn't meet his eyes, I just stared at the ball and his feet. When he picked the ball up and went to pass I looked up. Like any good player he faked and then passed the opposite direction. I guarded him pretty closely through the first half. The second half I got an opportunity.

Carter was looking the same direction he was going to pass. I took off sprinting to intercept his pass. I think I shocked him by racing straight toward him when I'd been guarding him pretty far back. I stretched my right hand out and tipped the pass forward. I heard my team mates scream as I started dribbling it hard with the rhythm of my running.

I was just about to start my lay up when when the ceiling came crashing down in front of me. I skidded to a stop and then threw myself to the right and rolled out of the way. I crouched and looked behind me, assessing the situation. A piece of debris had flow toward the players who were following me. Carter had plucked a sword from mid air and sliced in half, the half that went toward Sadie crumbled into dust in midair, a golden mark glowing in the air. Disintegrate. The piece that headed for Walt he grabbed and squished with his bare hand, it turned black and crumbled like a piece of stale bread.

No one else was hurt but everyone seemed slightly shocked, my gods the Fates hated me today. I turned back to the quickly settling dust cloud, whoever decided to screw with me now had majorly ticked me off.

I registered an alligator like shape and saw its jaws open. I launched myself into the dust cloud and wrapped my arms around its neck, just behind its jaw. I latched on tightly and did a quick inventory, I had two throwing stars in my shoes but I could reach them and a knife attached to the waistline of my shorts. I might be able to reach that.

Before I could someone pulled me off the alligator's back, which hadn't been fighting me as much as it should have. I stomped the person's foot and elbowed them in the gut and turned around with a scream. I punched their head, just grazing their temple and they sunk to the floor out cold.

I glanced at them fast and them ripped my knife out of my waistband. I stabbed the very pretty innocent looking girl laying on the floor and I wasn't sure who was in more shock, the Kanes or me. Less than a day, less than a day and I had more on my trail. The Fates despised me, at this rate I'd end up going to Tartarus with the next back of monsters that came at me. No way was the Underworld going to keep me. Hades would probably hold my trial himself.

The empousa began to disintegrate, the magic charm for her appearance disappearing slowly with her. The alligator was standing on its hind legs now, it looked like some sea monster I'd had a brief encounter with before in the Atlantic Ocean, only it had been much bigger before.

I dodged its tail that whipped around at me while jumping on its back, latching my arms around its throat, and slashing my nice across when I let go. The pile of ashes cushioned my fall, or it would have if I hadn't landed on my feet.

"Sadie, how to the terrors of Egyptian mythology find you? Head quarter locations are common knowledge?" I asked taking charge.

"Mira-"

"Answer the question." I told her with a glare. I probably looked a little frightening but on the inside I was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Yeah, but we've got protective spells."

"Just to keep them out, not to mask your presence?"

"They know we're here." Di freaking immortals. I was a fool.

"I am stupid." I growled as I stomped the floor, "for thinking I could stay here longer than I did. I have to go." I shouted as I sprinted for the stares. Walt stepped in front of me and I didn't hesitate in whirling around and using my momentum to fling him over my shoulder.

My mind was racing at a million miles an hour. _The spells don't work on Greek or Roman monsters. I am screwed, if those two found me so fast. How did they even reform that fast? Wait I need to get somewhere safe first, or at least ditch all the monsters that are probably piling up outside of the mansion. I have to get out of here **now.**_

I took the stairs six or seven at a time, practically bouncing off the walls. I made it upstairs to the room I had fallen asleep in and grabbed my bag and sword. I needed a view of what outside was like. I raced up the last set of stairs and broke the door up to the roof. I raced to the edge of the building and looked down.

I blinked, hoping that I was seeing things. There was a ring of monsters around the warehouse. Big, small, the ugly and the uglier, some slightly terrifying, some almost really terrifying. I couldn't freak out, I could not lose my head here. I rolled my shoulders back and put my "I'm-better-than-you-and-we-both-know-it" smirk on. I spun my sword in my hand and looked down at the monsters again. They were the ones who were going to be toast in a minute.

**Q: Name as many members of the Twenty First Nome as you can. Extra Credit for their path.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Well yeah, next chapter. I hope I can get another up this week, I've got a school break due to conferences. And keep the reviewing up, its awesome guys. As I am sure I have stated a lot before, comments make my day. I do not own PJO or the Kance Chronicles.**

**trustingHim17-thanks for answering. The questions are to keep you guys interested but in this case it was cause I lost my Kindle and couldn't think of any of the magician's names. I'll be bringing a lot more than Walt, Carter, Sadie, Jaz, and Zia in in the next few chapters.**

**Shyer Elizabeth-*whistles* that is quite the list. Thanks so much for that. I am happy to make my readers happy. Oh, opps, my sarcasm radar got switched off this year, so did my sense of humor, all of my friends have told me so.**

**annabeth523-oh my gosh new reviewer and thanks! Second favorite, I'm like flying right now!**

**bilboardcrabs-I made you cry? Oh my gosh, another thing that's got me flying. I can most definetly do that in a later chapter. Remember at this point Mira is still eight months in the past at the begining of Winter Break.**

Chapter Thirteen~Crazier than You

Keeping a brave face wasn't that hard, and being stupidly brave was pretty easy too. Once I started this fight I wouldn't be able to back out, that's just the way it was. I'd be so totally focused on it nothing else like fear or panic could even appear in my thoughts. I just had to get down there first. I couldn't jump off and have the wind catch me, or shadow travel, or jump and create a pillow of water to cushion my fall.

"Mira!" Sadie shouted as she stomped up on to the roof. I didn't turn around to look at her, I was still analyzing the monsters. Several empousa, a Nemeon Lion, a couple of animated skeletons (no full blown zombie men, thank who ever in the universe is still on my side), and a few storm spirits. I needed to get rid of the empousa first just in case Carter or Walt stupidly tried to join the fight. Wait! What if Walt recognized the skeletons? Anubis would, I'm sure. I'd be screwed then. I needed to get down there now.

"Stay here Sadie." I called over my shoulder and looked around the roof. The gryphon squeaked at me. I grinned in a devilish way. Sadie leaned over the edge.

"Oh gods Mira, you can't take them all. There's," Sadie counted quickly, "forty!"

"Yeah but they're pretty easy to defeat. Besides they'll start climbing the building in a moment to get me. I need to get them away from here. I need to get down there now."

"Are you crazy?" Sadie grabbed me and shook me by the shoulders.

"Crazier than you," I told her.

"Not funny, okay maybe a bit but still. You go down there you'll be monster food."

"I _am_ monster food, this is life for me. Avoid getting eaten, beat up some monsters, sleep, repeat. Nothing I can't handle," I gave her a reassuring grin. I was good at faking those. I'd had plenty of practice time on Olympus. 'Specially in the past few months it had been, 'are you sure you don't mind if I go do this or that instead?' my answer 'oh yeah totally, I'll just go down to Camp or practice my martial arts'. It had only taken a week of that for me to something was off and for the resentment to start in. Two days later I was enrolled in school. I seriously can't believe they thought I was at Camp that whole time. It's a good thing Athena's month hadn't come, she's the only one who might have actually noticed. _Might. _

"I'm coming with you," I saw that coming.

"You have no clue how to fight or kill these monsters or even what they're called. Stay up here Sadie. Now help me find a way down." Screech! I glared over at the gryphon. "If you're offering a ride then get me down there!" I told it. It did exactly what I said.

I took off flying, grabbed my with two of its talons and flew down toward the ring of monsters. Flying like this wasn't actually that scary, it kinda felt like a roller coaster ride. I was focusing on the battle so that might have distracted me from feeling scared. The key here would be to divide and conquer, and before Walt/Anubis got out here. So I'd have to take the skeletons first even though he could probably recognize all the monsters.

We sailed down toward monsters, they weren't looking up at me yet. Typical monster with an IQ less than ten. "Drop me!" I told the gryphon. He released me and I landed on one of the skeletons, my feet crushing their rib cage beneath me. I slashed him with my sword just in case. I spun around in a circle with my blade out stretched and managed to disintegrate the monsters around me who had been caught off guard. Okay that was seven, there were three skeletons left that I quickly sent back to Tartarus with a few slices and a kick.

I set in on the empousa next which wasn't that hard. There were only three and with a few words and insults I managed to displace their trust of each other. Besides they're only a challenge for guys to defeat. Empousa charms don't work on girls and all three of them were recently reborn so they didn't have much experience.

I noticed a flash out of the corner of my eye. Something brushed against my back. Sadie. I spun around and saw her right behind me, casting spells and turning her staff into various jungle animals. I shook my head and got back into the fight, I should have known she wouldn't listen.

Magic actually seemed to be pretty effective. I just ran them through with my sword. With her covering my back I was a bit more daring, not checking behind me taking on more monsters at once, going on offense. Two minutes later I stabbed the last monster and turned around. Sadie was leaning over, her hands on her knees panting.

"That was fun," she remearked while looking at me sideways.

"You never listen do you?"

"You don't listen either."

"Yeah but I'm crazy, I've got an excuse." We both started laughing at the same time. Carter looked over the edge of the roof a minute later.

"Sadie!" He shouted down at us. "Where in the Duat have you been?"

"Down here, kicking monster butt." She smiled and waved at him innocently. Then she turned to me. "You have some explaining to do."

The were all sitting and staring at me.

"So just to make sure I heard you right," Carter started. "Your famliy moves across the country, running away from those monsters who chase you because of your ancestors who insulted them?"

"In various ways depending upon which monster. And they chase us because they like to eat us in addition to getting revenge."

"And you guys survive on your own?" Zia asked.

"Yeah, train, train, train. That's all we pretty much every do. School isn't really safe for us, unless your me. I managed to get it to work. Everyone else stays at the safe spots."

"Which are?" Sadie asked.

"Um, just a building or a park with an enchantment. Actually we have a casino hotel set up as a safe spot too." If you call safe never aging.

"So your family can use magic?" Walt asked curious.

"Depends upon who it is. Gifts are kinda passed down from generation to generation, its a big family. I had a brother who could breath underwater and a sister who could kinda attract precious metals and gems to her." I had met Hazel only once and briefly in the Fields of Asphodel. Dad had forbidden me from talking to her ever again but I managed to find out more about her. Her story was sad, I think that's why Dad didn't want me meeting with her. He probably didn't want me to know about the giants either.

"What's yours?" Sadie asked.

"Fighting comes pretty naturally and leadership's another. And then, well I've kinda been able to do a few things with fire since I was a kid but my family didn't know about that."

"So are your family members anyone we know?" Carter asked.

"No, besides I doubt they'd want to meet you if that's what you want."

"Why?"

"Cause of me."

"That's a weird reason."

"I know," I answered. "We got into a fight and they kinda kicked me out. They thought I was conspiring with some of the monsters. That's why those people were after me." Carter nodded to me.

"Why would they think that?" Jaz asked. "And why would they kick you out, your their daughter, their sister, cousin, whatever. You were family."

"I don't know where they got the idea. But I guess I'm not really part of the family anymore. I was different from the start, the odd one out. We kinda started pulling away from each other at the end of the summer. I guess they just decided I wasn't one of them." I looked down at my folded hands in my lap. I felt really uncomfortable talking about this. Even if it was in Sadie's really cool bedroom with about a million privacy spells cast around it.

My eyes shifted from the posters of music artists to the balcony to the mini fridge and then to her iPod on her beside table. The bright colors all around the room screamed Sadie Kane. I hated lying to them but the sad part was that only a small portion of what I had said was a lie. It looked like I fit in, really it did. To everyone else I probably blended in with the rest of the demigods. I knew I was the odd one out though.

Being the only demigod who's allowed to talk to their parents on a regular basis? And then I got to live with them. Yeah, that's normal. Then on Olympus I was the only mortal. I hear so many 'back in wherever in year whatever we used to...' stories I got sick of them. Plus I couldn't flash out or eat godly food all the time.

"How do we know your not lying?" Zia blurted out. Jaz glared at her.

"Cause she's our friend."

"Ya but you didn't know any of this about her?" Zia pointed out. Personally I thought Zia did have a point, I mean they didn't know I wasn't lying. I loved Jaz though for sticking up for me. Thank you universe for one friend I can still rely on. Oh well two I guess.

"Yeah well she didn't know we were magicians, why? Cause if we'd told her she'd probably have called us insane. We thought she was ordinary, she thought the same about us? Can you blame her?" Sadie asked Zia.

"I don't blame her. I was suspicious of you, you should be suspicious of me. In fact I expect you to be suspicious. 'Specially you Carter. In the position of the leader you have to be looking out for everyone else around you. I am a threat."

"Mira don't think like that," Jaz told me. She scooted over so she was sitting right next to me.

"But its true! Monsters chase me around even though I didn't do anything to tick them off and then when I do defeat them it ticks them off even more so they come after me even madder than before. They can't hurt ordinary people, but they can hurt you guys. Plus how do you know I really wasn't a spy? I mean I could have been maybe I was, even if I didn't know it or said something on accident or-" the possibilities ran around my head. I could have been a spy. I could have betrayed them. What if I was wrong? And they were right? They seemed so sure that they had to have had an excellent reason. They were positive, and they were my family, they would have given me the benefit of the doubt.

Some one shook me really hard by my shoulders and then pushed me back so I was laying on Sadie's bed. "Mira Pharaoh snap out of it!" Jaz screeched in my ear. I blinked back to my hell of a life. My thought had just kinda washed me away, I got caught up in them. I looked into her blue eyes, she had that slight frown that only appeared when she was extremely worried. And I mean extremely, it takes a freaking lot to get Jaz not to smile.

"Don't say that, I know its not true. I know you, you could not betray any friend of yours. It is simply not in your nature, not in your mind. You wouldn't even see it as an option. You know this, you know who you are! How can you think like that?"

"I was trained to think like this." I told Jaz. "Its the way I was brought up. Its the way I am." _All of those statements are so unfortunately true._

"Well whoever raised you must be a bunch of up tight perfectionist jerks." Sadie said so causally I almost smiled. "Like gods or something, no worries you belong here with us." She had no clue.

"But-" Zia started.

"Sadie what did you have her do? Please say it was something safe." Carter had been having one of those mental conversations with Sadie using their eyes only.

"Ohhh you'll see brother dear, and-"

"It's Sadie, what did you expect?" I broke in on the conversation. "Of course it was something dangerous."

"Sadie!" Carter shouted. "Sadie-Kane!" Sadie screamed really loudly during her middle name so we couldn't hear it.

"Carter you know I hate my full name! Don't ever use it again or I'm gonna tell Zia your old nickname." Sadie wiggled her eyebrows at him and laughed an arrogant laugh. She knew she had him there. It must be a pretty embarrassing nickname.

Carter opened his mouth to respond and then shut it. "Ugh," he groaned.

"Ha! You know you can't beat me here. I know every embarrassing thing about you! Just like a little sister should." I saw images flashing before my eyes. Percy trying to sing karaoke with Emme and totally screwing up cause he couldn't read the words on the screen. It was a very interesting version of 'A Whole New World'. The time in October Thalia found herself cornered by a monster in Six Flags and had to jump on a roller coaster to get away from it. A roller coaster that started off with a very steep drop. My ears didn't work for a whole two minutes after that, and I was on the ground next to the pile of monster dust.

Nico crossing Persephone and she put sparkly rhinestone daisies on all of his black leather jacket and t-shirts. Right after I met Jason and his toga got slashed down the side during a surprise monster attack (he had taken me outside of Camp to show me around, as if I needed it). He was wearing lightening covered boxers which aren't as embarrassing as say Tweetie Bird but still, it was hilarious.

My memories expanded out from that. There was one time when I dragged Percy to Camp Half Blood on a Friday. We jumped into the game and Clarisse charged us without realizing who we were. Percy splashed her spear and she electrocuted herself, her hair standing straight on edge.

Two months later when I dropped in for a visit and saw Connor writing a fake love note to Katie from Travis. Connor blanked out and signed his name at the end though, and he hand delivered the note to Katie and had her read it in front of him.

When Travis slipped on the rock climbing wall and his shirt got caught on a rock. He hung there until Chiron ordered someone to help him down. I remember laughing quietly in the shadows all those summers. And those precious last few days of July this summer, when I had been as close to one of them as I could have been. Dropping in spontaneously a few times a week right after school or during study hall or my favorite, for Capture the Flag. Shadow traveling across the country for the occasional War Game or trench digging contest. More often though, hunting monsters in the Berkeley Hills in the dark of the night.

"Show us then." I blinked back to reality and hoped I hadn't missed too much of the conversation. Carter pulled an ordinary brown messenger style bag out of thin air (I tried my best not to gape) and opened it. He got out a stylus and a roll of papyrus and tossed it at me. I caught them both and looked at Sadie. She gave me an encouraging smile and then shot a self satisfied smirk at Carter.

I slipped down from Sadie's bed to the floor and stretched the papyrus out. Sadie set a little glass container of ink next to me. I dipped the stylus.

"If you taught her how to singe eyebrows..." Zia warned Sadie.

"Oh but Zia it was your wonderful example that lead me to that. I just taught her what you taught me."

"Step back then." Zia warned Walt, who was staring intently at me. Jaz laughed but scooted back anyways. I stared blankly at the paper for a moment and then wrote something down in a hurry. Be real, I told it as I wrote the words. Fly off the paper, be real.

I think I might have been crazy but I saw a little gold light travel down my arm into my hand. It spread out into five little lights and flowed through my finger tips, reuniting in the stylus and then out onto the paper.

It was like someone added gold shimmer to the black ink but it faded so quickly I wasn't sure it was really there. Just one second after though, the page started smoking.

"Mira?" Zia asked in a soft voice.

"No worries, that's supposed to happen." I told her. Words rose out of the gray smoke into the air and then exploded like mini fireworks. A shower of sparks illuminated the smoke for one stunning moment, and then it was over.

I blinked, my eyelids feeling heavy. I still saw sparks flashing about the room, their little bright lights dancing about. "Well there yago." I siad my words starting to slur. I manged to stand up and shakily sit down on Sadies bed. Walt whistled, Carter gave me an encouraging smile, Jaz gave me two thumbs up, Sadie was smirking at Zia, and Zia looked slightly in shock.

"Oh and Sayda, I'ma stealing yoooour," I yawned lazily, "bed." Then I fell back and curled up on my side. I think I heard Zia laughing as I fell asleep amidst Sadie's protests of injustice. I knew I wouldn't dream tonight.

**Q:What is the name of the goddess that Zia hosted? **

**Oh and by the way next chapter will start wtih a minor time skip, I will post at the beinging of the chapter when the date is if I do a time skip, just though I'd give a heads up.**


	14. Chapter 14

**This took a while, know why? I did this all in the past three hours and it got so large I split it in half. So the next chapter will be up shortly to make up for the extended wait time for this one. **

**trustingHim17-update time. Okay I'll start adding dates again. **

**bilboardcrabs-first right answer, cookies for you (this will be funny once you read the chapter). Russian heritage, cool!**

**guest-yep, right answer wrong spelling (no worries I can't spell it either)**

** . -thank you, right answer :)**

**daughter of zeus-correct! Bonus points for elaboration.**

**Book Worm Assassin-dang, double bonus points, cool name btw**

**annabeth523-thank you, its okay post whenever. Oh and yes I do have that sorted out, I just haven't put it in the book yet ;) should be coming up soon**

**Percy Waterblue-oh they shall meet, they shall meet as soon as I catch Mira up to regular time. Time skips will start to be frequent. I will probably do an up to date chapter soon though just cause I left the Percy worriers sitting around Sally's house. Percy being Egyptian? Hmmm, I'll see what I can do with that, no promises though. Thank you.**

Chapter Fourteen~Sadie the Crazy Completes her Revenge

7 Months 3 Weeks ago

(1 Week Since Mira joined the Kanes)

December 23

"Jingle bells-"

"Batman smells!" Shelby interrupted with a smile. The other three ankle biters broke into the song with her.

"Robing laid an egg! The batmoblie lost a wheel and Joker got away HEY!" They belted out as loudly as they could.

"Mira you're supposed to keep them distracted!" Sadie shouted into the kitchen from somewhere out in the living room.

"I am, you never said I had to keep them quiet!" I leaned over the cook book on the marble counter top on the island in the kitchen. I thumbed through two or three more pages and found it.

"Got it guys!" I said cheerfully as I spun around. The counter behind me had four kids sitting on it. Shelby was sitting in the middle and banging her feet against the cabinets, bang, bang, bang. On her left sat Maddie and on Maddie's right was Andy. Then on Shelby's right sat Payton.

"Christmas cookies?" Shelby asked hopefully. I nodded with a smile.

"Sugar or gingerbread?" I asked.

"Both!" Maddie exclaimed.

"Sure, I've got time. Which first? Orrrrrr..." I grinned as I came up with a slightly deranged idea. "Boys vs. Girls, I'll be the judge and help out both sides."

"We want gingerbread!" Shelby and Payton screamed at the same time. Payton glared at Shelby with his blue eyes and ran a hand over his spiky blond hair. It spiked up even more. "I said it first, did not, did too!"

"Jinx," I said. "Now rock paper scissors. On shoot okay? Rock paper scissors shoot!" They pounded their fists three times and then formed shapes with their hands.

"YES!" Shelby screamed. "Paper beats rock, Maddie and I get gingerbread." Shelby snatched the cookbook out of my hands eagerly. She fell off the counter in the process but she landed on her feet. Then she used the cupboard handles as foot holds and climbed right back up.

"K, but the boys get to pick which half of the kitchen they want." I had to make it sound like a compromise, even though it was just a stretch of counter.

"I want to make sugar cookies though," Maddie said a pout beginning to form. Time for another compromise, Maddie had really good puppy dog eyes. In fact she looked like a puppy to begin with , curly dark brown hair and bright brown eyes with freckles.

"Andy do you want to work with Maddie?" The little boy with brown hair freckles and glasses over his wide hazel eyes looked up at me.

"Sure," he said with a smile. Thank goodness for flexible non-stubborn willed kids. Payton and Shelby were enough. Maddie was good as long as you didn't upset her, and Andy would do pretty much anything you asked with with a smile. Maddie scooted over toward him and he smiled at her. I got them a different cookbook and turned to the sugar cookie page.

Then I got out a roll of tape and divided the kitchen in half. "No crossing the line, go it?" I said, mostly to Shelby. "No touching the other teams cookies, no exploding flour bags, and no using magic. And good sportsman ship Got it? If you need something I'm right here." I sat on the counter top of the island and held both my hands up.

"On your mark, get set, bake!" they started at me blankly.

"That means go," I said with a smile and some hand gestures. They all went 'ohhh' and then started. Maddie read the recipe to Andy who got some ingredients out and then crawled over to the measuring utensils. Shelby and Payton already threw some ingredients in their mixer. I had a feeling I'd be remaking the gingerbread cookies.

I still jumped down and skipped over to them. I turned on the mixer (another rule, I was the only one allowed to use anything electric). They told me when to stop and I turned it off. Then I went back to my spot of observation on the island counter top.

"Mira!" Someone shouted. I turned around and leaned back trying to looking into the Great Room. "I need help with my science report." Jaz told me. She had her legs kicked up on the back on the couch and her head on the armrest. A laptop was propped up on her stomach.

"Shhhhh, I am trying to focus on maths." Sadie yelled from the other end of the couch.

"Drop the s Sadie."

"Adie is a weird name though," she complained. Carter poked his head out from his door up on the fifth floor and glared down at Sadie.

"She means on the end of math. Its math, not maths. C'mon Sadie you've been through a whole semester of American school." She stuck her toungue out at Carter.

"Go back to being a nerd please, thank you. And shut the door, I'm annoyed at you.'

"Really?" Carter asked with sarcasm and shut the door.

"Oh my gods," Sadie said slowly, "my brother just used sarcasm. Did anyone else hear that? He used sarcasm, on me!" Jaz looked at me, she was about to laugh. I held up a finger to my lips and winked.

"Seirously? I didn't hear anything." I told Sadie. She looked at me with a frown.

"Yes you did." She insisted.

"Our Americaness has finally cracked Sadie, such a shame." Jaz stated amazingly sincerely. "Now Mira, about that report..."

"Give me a second I'll run grab mine. It has my list of references at the end," I dashed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I was panting a little by the time I reached my door, that was a good mini workout. I brushed past the partially open door and grabbed my school laptop from off my desk. I'd been transferring items from my old apartment here. I was going to find a new one somewhere closer and tell my classmates I moved. I still needed to keep one up for the sake of appearance. I'm sure I'd be spending all of my time here though from now on. Sadie and Jaz promised to go shopping with me and get some decorations for my room. Sadie says seeing it blank makes her shudder. Really all that's mine in the room is my school stuff, my still packed back pack, and my hygene stuff. It still a white room with an ordinary bed and no color in it what so ever. A perfectly blank desk. No clothes thrown all over it or homework scattered about. That's all packed up nice and neat in my back pack (my school one) and in my closet.

I tucked it under my arm and slipped out of my rom quietly. I crawled over to the banister and peered in between the bars holding the railing up. Sadie had moved so she was in a chair instead of on the couch and Jaz hadn't moved. Half of the couch was empty, it was too tempting. I jumped up and vaulted the banister and fell toward the couch silently. I flipped three times and then landed with a shout. I bounced up and fell back down in a sitting position. I shook the couch a little. Jaz was scared out of her mind though. She held her science text book behind her head like she was ready to clobber me with it.

Sadie looked at Jaz, who was staring at me, and then started laughing. Jaz broke out in a fit of giggles and I smiled. "That...was *gasp* a good one...Mira." Sadie managed to choke out. Jaz was laughing but she still chucked a pillow at my head and glared angrily...for an impressive point two seconds. I caught the pillow and dropped it on the ground.

"Only three flips?" Jaz asked with a teasing sparkle in her eyes.

"Ugh I'm not stretched out," I complained lazily.

"I don't think flips require stretching."

"At least I can do a flip," I shot back at Sadie.

"I can totally do what you just did. I'll do it now! For I am crazier tha-"

"I'd better get back in the kitchen before the little kids start blowing stuff up." I said cutting Sadie off quickly. She mouthed some choice words at me and I smirked back. "Still want this?" I asked, unfurling my arms from around my laptop which I had been clutching to my chest.

"Yes please!" Jaz cried as she reached over to grab it. I handed it to her and popped off the couch. I walked back into the kitchen to find one flour covered child. Wait, correction, powdered sugar covered child.

"I made it snow!" Shelby told me proudly. I laughed and picked her up and set her back down on the counter. I got a towel and cleaned her up the best I could. Her clothes were several shades paler than before. Maddie and Andy calmly rolled out their sugar cookies dough while I preheated the oven for them. Shelby and Payton had a fight about who got the bigger rolling pin. Payton won in the end.

By the time the gingerbread men got cut out and I managed to convince Shelby that you decorate them after they bake, the sugar cookies had finished baking. I pulled them out of the oven and moved the kids over away from the oven. I had them all help me while we made two different types of frosting and then while we pulled bags of candy down out of the cupboards.

"Watch this," Andy said with a big smile. He took one of the gum drops and tossed it up in the air and caught it in his mouth. Maddie clapped eagerly for him and Shelby started to think up a way to out shine him. Payton already had two gum drops in his hand and was tossing them up in the air. He couldn't get them both in his mouth at the same time. His attempts were pretty hilarious though.

I grabbed two chocolate chips and resolved to show them how its done. I tossed them up at the same time with opposite hands and caught them both in my both. Shelby was the only one who wasn't astounded. But of course she wouldn't be.

The timer for the gingerbread dinged and I grabbed the oven mitts to pull it out. I opened the oven door to check that they were baked and I found a little eyeless head staring back at me.

"Oh my gosh!" I screamed as I jumped back. Little gingerbread men began to crawl out of the oven. The little kids stared at them in shock.

The gingerbread men began to from rows on the ground and two seconds later they had a mini army marching across the kitchen floor. They were advancing toward the kids. Maddie squealed and clutched Andy. Shelby glared at the gingerbread cookies and jumped down off the counter.

"I'm not afraid," she proclaimed valiantly. The gingerbread soldiers kept marching.

"I'm not either." Payton said, joined Shelby. And the gingerbread cookies totally ignored them. I watched them frowning, trying to figure out what they were doing. They stacked up on top of each other to form a...ladder up to the counter. And then then, oh gods.

"Maddie, Andy, get over here." I told them. They scooted away from the slightly disturbing animated cookies and jumped off the counter. "Go out to Sadie, you too Shelby and Payton, not buts. Just go." The gingerbread cookies began to dive into the bowls of frosting and then popped back out and attached candy to their bodies, giving them faces and...

"Oh crap," I said plainly. Weapons. Deranged little gingerbread soldiers armed with sharpened candy canes and licorice ropes were storming our kitchen. "What the heck?" I asked next.

How could they be moving, they were cookies. Objects, nonliving, inanimate. Inanimate, oh crap. Animation spells and potions and a crazy British teenage drama queen who vowed revenge.

"Sadie!" I screamed as I ran into the living room. She was standing on top of the coffee table with a blanket around her shoulders like a cape. The little kids were hiding behind her, smirking and giggling. Little double crossers, she probably bribbed them with candy.

"I am the mighty Sadie the Crazy! Queen of Random Awesomeness, you have challenged me. Now you shall face the wrath of my Gingerbread Army and Sugar cookie minions." She cackled and glared at me. "By the way I stole your sword, and most of your weapons out of your room. And cue the theme song!" That Taylor Swift song started blaring in the background.

"_She should keep in mind, she should keep in mind there is nothing I do better than **revenge!" **_Oh my gods Sadie, really?

**Q: What kind of pillow pet does Octavian murder when Percy comes to Camp Jupiter?**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Okay heres part two of the Christmas kind of snapshot. I will try to get you guys another chapter before Thursday cause guess what? I'm a faithful nanoer. I probably won't have time to write for this and my novel in November. I will try though!**

**PercyWaterBlue-I always respond and your very welcome. Octavian killed Percy's pillow pet although I do believe the teddy bear was also mentioned. I shall have to look that up.**

**bilboardcrabs-correct, and here's the update!**

**I could have sworn I got more reviews than that via email alerts. They're not showing up on fanfiction though so I'll check my email after this and edit the responses if there are any I missed.**

Chapter Fifteen~I Conquer the Psychopathic Cookie Army

A few seconds later...Mira PoV

Okay I need a plan, no weapons, no allies, and two armies of cookies armed with semi lethal candy weapons. First thing first, I was going to fight fire with fire.

And I needed back in that kitchen. The cookie army was advancing behind me. I looked over my shoulder and then at Sadie again. And then I sprinted for the stairs. Those cookies were fast for having such short legs. I needed to ditch them. I went up one flight of stairs and ran around the railing to the opposite side. I then vaulted the railing and landed on the couch. I sprung up from it and placed both my hands on Sadie's shoulders, using her to push myself forward. I flipped forward, landed, rolled and then sprinted for the library door. Two lines of sugar cookies blocked my way. I hurdled them with ease.

I hid behind a case of scrolls. I sneaked in between shelves of scrolls and tables. I added the occasional roll and threw my back against a wall like in those spy movies. I made my way over to one of the Shabti. "I need information about animation spells," I hissed. "Leave it on the table," I rolled away and then climbed one of the shelves. I laid on top of it on my stomach and surveyed my surroundings. The cookies were guarding the door.

I looked over to my right and saw their mistake. The window was hidden by few shelves, the door guards wouldn't be able to see. I jumped off the shelf top and made my way silently to the window. I slid the curtains away and unlatched the window. I peeked my head out and saw the balcony not to far away, way to far to jump but I had a solution. Okay, clear mind, breath and reach for it. I shut my eyes and imagined my magic bag in my hand. I felt its weight a moment later. I grinned and pulled the twine out. I said a single word, grow (in Egyptian of course) and it turned into a rope. I created a lasso and then leaned out of the window. I tossed the rope and managed to get it around one of the railing posts on the third try. I pulled it tight and threw my magic bag back in the Duat.

I tied the other end of the rope around my waist and then stood on the window sill. I held onto the window frame with one hand and leaned out. "Who's crazier now Sadie?" I whispered to the wind and then jumped. I swung through the air, right next to the mansion and then kept swinging back and forth while my momentum wore off. I was clutching the rope tightly even though it was tied around me. I put one arm over the other and began to climb. I was panting by the time I was half way up, another fourth of the way up and my arms where burning. I made it to the railing finally and I was shaking and sweaty.

"Ohhhhh Sadie," I muttered while dreaming up my revenge. I climbed over the railing and undid the rope from around the top of the post. It was some decorative shape that was kinda like an upside down tear drop, so the point was up not down. I looked over and waved to Phillip, he opened his mouth expectantly. "No bacon, sorry. I'd be happy to feed you some psychopathic cookies though."

I walked toward the glass doors and then ducked behind the metal table that was sitting on the balcony when I saw a patrol of gingerbread cookies go by. I peeked in between the legs of one of the chairs. Then I crawled under the table cloth and made my way through the maze of metal chair legs and table supports. When I got to the other side, which was only about five feet from the door I paused. I sat there crouching, I needed a way to get into the kitchen, I guess I was just going to have to sneak through the living room.

A patrol passed, I started counting. Thirty seconds later another passed, that was plenty of time. I waited for one more patrol to pass and then I rolled out from under the table and slid the door open. I only had to open it about a foot to slip inside and I shut it gently behind me. I was careful not to leave any finger prints on the glass. I ducked behind the curtians and then peeked out from behind them (they weren't see through) to survey the best route to the kitchen. The door was on the wall just a few feet away from me but the rest of the kitchen was open to the living room. Jaz was out there but not Sadie. I frowned and scanned the room. Then I saw her figure standing in the library door.

"Isn't this a bit harsh Sadie?" Jaz asked.

"The spell will wear off...eventually, I put the potion in the dough. Besides if they do catch her they'll just tie her up with liquorish, its not like they're going to hurt her." No time limit, oh well, that meant I could go overboard.

I crept out of my hiding place and slid my back along the wall and then ducked inside the kitchen door. I crouched behind the island and peered up at the stove. There was a big pot on top of it. I stood up a little and looked inside.

It was a pot of milk that was on low heat with cookies inside it. They had their little arms up on the sides like it was a hot tub. I smiled and slid the lid which was unwisely sitting on the marble counter top next to the stove over the pan. I turned the heat up and placed a cookbook on top of the pot to keep the lid on. I looked over the candy pile which was significantly decreased now.

There were still several things left and I could use them. I grinned and began. I pulled out some saran wrap and tin foil. I snatched the extra candy cane spears and licorice nets. I made a belt out of tin foil and lined it with my weapons. I added a shoulder strap which carried more ammunition. Then I started on booby trapping the kitchen.

I melted sugar (using magic, it takes forever if you do it the mortal way) and died it red. I made glasses frames out of candy canes and then dipped them in the sugar and let them dry for a little bit while I finished the booby traps that required sugar. Finally I made a tinfoil bird cage and hid it in a cupboard. I noticed a small group of gingerbread soldiers staring at me. I snatched them up before they could do anything and grabbed a frosting bag off my shoulder strap. I quickly frosted over their mouths, I had no clue if they could speak but I was not taking chances. By taking them out in small groups I could easily overwhelm them. However all of them at once, I'd probably get overwhelmed. Seriously , we made a lot of cookies. There are over thirty people in the mansion.

I dipped their legs in caramel and squeezed them together so they couldn't run and then chucked them in the cage. I closed the door and then added several pockets on my belt to keep my cookie prisoners in. I put little notches and loops on them so I could shut them. Then, feeling prepared for war, I put on my glasses with the sugar lenses and headed out into the mansion.

Sadie was still in the library. I took the patrols going by the windows and doors in the living room first. Jaz had left and all the other kids were still in classes. Once I was satisfied that the living room was secure I moved up onto the first floor.

I was running out of room in the cage by that point so I started chucking some in the milk pot too. I caught one cookie trying to escape by throwing a candy cane spear at it and pinning it to the wall. Seriously, that's how sharp these things were. Sadie the Crazy and her psychopath cookie army were out to get me. Twenty minutes later I was up on the fifth floor. I had been stopping by doors and asking if any cookies entered people's rooms. I got several 'are you sugar high?' looks and found one cookie hiding in a closet.

There was group of them in my room, about two dozen. And they had covered my walls in frosting graffiti. I shut the door behind me and locked it. I cracked my knuckles and they turned around. I adjusted my glasses and smirked. "You shouldn't have done that," I told them with a cackle. I threw a caramel bomb. It exploded, sticking four cookies together. Five ran for the bathroom and ten hid under my bed while two dashed for the window and the rest just scattered. I jumped over the cookies and latched my window shut. I knocked them over with my foot and stepped on them. Then I grabbed them and slipped them into my belt. Six down, eighteen to go. I moved the four stuck together onto my desk so I could see them. Then I took a roll of saran wrap and ran it around the edge of my bedspread and the floor, sealing those ten cookies under my bed.

I found one in my closet hiding on a hanger. I plucked it off the hanger and tossed it in my belt. I peered into my bathroom cautiously and saw a cookie jumping up and down on top of the little top to one of my perfume bottles. Two of his buddies were holding it still. He didn't stop and my bathroom started to smell nauseous within a moment. I coughed and threw a powdered sugar bomb at the three manning the perfume bottle. I found the other two in my shower, they had turned the cold water on and squirted me with it.

"So not cool," I chocked out, the perfume still clogging my lungs. The cookies jumped off the shower head and landed in my hair. I started pirouetting, my hair flying out. I heard a thud as one cookie lost its grip on my hair and went flying off into the wall. A second later its comrade joined it. I picked them up by their feet and added them to my collection of prisoners in my belt.

The three covered in powder sugar had sneaked out into my bedroom again, their little white tracks leaving tell tale signs. Using their candy cane spears they managed to rip the saran wrap. I now had fifteen cookies still on the loose in my room. Half of them had stacked up to reach my desk and try and free their caramel covered comrades. The other half managed to reach my door knob and were trying to turn it, the lock was just one of those button ones that click open when you turn the door. I threw a liquorish string with two gumdrops at the ends at the middle of the tower working on the door. I knocked one of the cookies out and tied it up (demigods can perfectly well watch Saturday morning super hero cartoons, thank you very much). I then threw a caramel bomb at the top half of the chain.

A chain of three were holding on to the one holding onto the door knob (they were all now stuck together and to the door) and the other three had scattered. The ladder of seven working on reaching my desk had actually all made it on to my desk. I plucked the cookies still on the door off one at a time and placed them in my belt. I had six pockets left I took the one that was tied up and threw it on my bed. It bounced around for a it in vain, it looked like a fish flopping on land.

Two of the seven that just climbed my desk tried to free the caramel clump and got stuck themselves. The other five jumped to the floor and joined the three from the door. They started poking at my ankles with their candy cane spears. I jumped over them, doing flips and leans and the occasional handspring. I jumped up on the bed and did a backflip at one point. Their backs were to me and I had been counting on that. I pulled out two candy cane spears and threw them at two cookies. They were pinned to the ground. The remaning six cookies quickly recovered and pulled the saran wrap off from around my bed. They tried to wrap it around my ankles. I crouched down and swung one leg around, knocking them off their feet. I quickly folded the saran wrap over imprisoning three inside. Three left. One climbed my bed covers and was trying to free the tied up cookie. I tossed a liquorish net over it which was weighted down with gum drops.

The last two ran for the bathroom. I opened a pack of nerds and tossed into the bathroom, covering the tiled floor with little candies. The two cookies tried not to trip over them but one did. I snatched it up triumphantly and plucked its spear out if its hand. I snapped it with my free hand and then put the cookie in my belt. I slipped two water balloons out of my belt and grinned, this last one would be fun. It was hiding in my bathtub...perfect. I slid back the curtain and three the first water balloon. It broke open and covered the bottom of my tub with chocolate. The gingerbread soldier slipped and then I dropped the other balloon on him. One chocolate covered gingerbread man. The chocolate was already starting to harden. I picked the cookie up and slipped him in my belt.

I counted again once I was in my bedroom. All twenty four accounted for. I picked up the ones in the liquorish net and put them in my belt. I carried the caramel clump and the saran wrap group.

Downstairs I added my new prisoners to the cage and then checked the booby traps. There were several cookies caught in the caramel spider web next I stretched from the island to the counter. I buttered the ground in front of it, and you couldn't see that until you turned the corner if you were only a few inches tall. They slipped and slid into the web. Tah dah! I cut them out and tossed them in the milk pan and then checked my other prisoners in the cage. I added the ones from my belt after dipping them in caramel (except for the clump) and then restocked my belt. I checked the milk pot curiously and burst out laughing.

Several cookies floated on the surface perfectly decorated and not even the slightest bit soggy...don't you just love magic? I dug them out with a ladle and started to line the cookie pans. I was missing several dozen of each but I had a ton in the cage. Speaking of which. I pulled out the cage and hung it over the stove. I opened the door and told the cookies "jump or I dump you in." They looked kinda nervous and then started jumping. They'd go under the surface of the milk and then pop up inanimate. I fished them out and added them to the cookie sheets.

One tried to jump so as to land outside of the pan but he hit the edge. I smashed his hand with my ladle before he could climb out. I fished him out and then grabbed a pair of tongs and started plucking the cookies that didn't jump out and dunking them. Two minutes later I had a re-booby trapped kitchen and cookie sheets that were missing a dozen sugar and a dozen gingerbread.

I had a brilliant idea and I ran up to my room to grab my iPhone. I snapped a picture and printed it off. Then I wrote something on the back in red pen and went into the library.

"Mira?" Cleo asked.

"If you see any cookies tell them I'm here and I'm ready." I told her.

"Ummm," she looked at me in a curious way. "Are you alright?"

"Never better," I told her with a grin. I adjusted my glasses and she looked about ready to call Jaz.

"I'm just gonna finish putting these up," she said gesturing to a pile of scrolls on the corner of her desk. She shut the lid on her laptop and gathered the scrolls up in her arms. There was a decorated metal can that held all of her sharpened number two yellow pencils point up. Her laptop was perfectly in the middle of her otherwise clean desk and I suspected her drawers were organized meticulously as well. Twenty four cookies peeked out from under her desk.

"Crap," I stated then turned and ran. I knew they were behind me. I turned into the kitchen. I jumped up on the counter behind the island and waited. They came running in and around the corner. I watched knowing what would happen. Ten of the twenty four slipped on the butter and slid into the net. Two more got caught trying to pull them out. The other twelve knew it was hopeless.

I cralwed down the counter and jumped off onto the floor past the buttler slicked floor. Two cookies started climbing the drawer handles. Half way up their hands got caught in the caramel on the inside of the drawer handles. Ten left. They pulled out come liquorish strings and tied them together to make a rope. They used a frosting covered gumdrop for a grappling hook and managed to get it caught around the top drawer handler. They climbed up to the counter using that.

They started to cross the counter using the small strip of counter in front of the sink. I picked a fan up from the ground, placed it on the island and turned it on. It blew five in to the sink which was coated in marshmallow fluff, the reason why they avoided going in it. Two of the remaining five made it to my side of the kitchen and the other three were left on the other side. I walked over to the wall where several liquorish strings were tapped to the wall. I waited a second, the first one on my side of the kitchen took a step forward. I snapped a string and a pretzel stick cage fell from the ceiling. I snapped another and a peanut butter covered graham cracker fell on top of another cookie. I snapped another, a small balloon of melted butter plunged down and splattered all around the last sugar cookie. It tried to walk away but kept slipping. The other two sat down and hed their hands up. I pulled out a frosting bag and frosted those three to the counter while I collected the other cookies.

I almost put them in the milk, almost. But I decided I'd have some fun with Sadie. I tossed twelve of them int the milk, the other twelve I put in a Ziploc bag. I took them up to my room after I cleaned the kitchen (not really I just said 'hi-niem') and put them on my desk. I went down to the second floor and knocked on the two doors side by sides. Shelby opened the girl's door and Patyon opened the boys door.

The boys room had clothes all over the place and sheets handing off the bunk bed. The girls was slightly disordered but not as bad. Maddie came up behind Shelby. "Mira?" She asked.

"Yep-"

"You hate us don't you?" Shelby asked looking bored. Maddies lower lip trembled. I picked her up and tossed her in the air and then caught her and held her on my hip.

"Nawww, Sadie and I were just being crazy. We're at a truce now, in fast she was sorry about ruining the cookies so she promised to play with you guys for the rest of the day."

"She didn't ruin them, she made them more fun!" Payton said, still excited about the cookie soldiers. "Sadie rocks!"

"Really, well then I guess you don't want the ones that I managed to take the spell off of." I said acting a little disappointed.

"Oh he never said that." Andy said quickly.

"Cookies," Maddie said with a grin.

"Follow me," I told them.

I poured them each a glass of milk and gave them three of each kind of cookie plus extra candy and frosting. They were excited and bouncing off the walls when they were done. "Lets go up to Sadie's room, and by the way she said if you stay quiet until she opens the door she'll play with you for the rest of the day." I giggled on the inside. Maddie didn't want to be carried any more, in fact she was the bounciest but Shelby was speaking a million miles an hour.

"Thiswillbesssoooomuchfunand-"

"You got to be quiet," I reminded her. I pulled the picture out of my pocket and slipped it under Sadie's door. I walked back to my door and opened it slowly. I looked over my shoulder, Sadie's door swung open rapidly.

"Saaaaadiiiiieee!" The anklebiters cried. Maddie attached herself to Sadie's leg and Payton flew past her into her room. Shelby was jumping up and down and Andy was vibrating. Sadie looked down the hall to my door and glared at me. I winked at her she threw the crumpled up picture on the ground and ran back into her room trying to stop the sugar high toddlers from breaking anything.

Caught them all, your turn ;)

;) Sugar High Toddlers Cookie Army

**AN: the winky face is supposed to be like an astric cause you can't change font size here. I shrunk that (sugar high toddlers cookie army) down to size six when I actually wrote the chapter so it looked like a scribble, not words. Mira is devious, Sadie is crazy.**

**Q: What are the names of Sadies mortal friends from London?**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Alright, I got a chapter written in November! Yay! This one flowed so nicely, I just sat down and wrote it all. HOnest to goodness I mean to write for my NaNo but I didn't. So yeah. Review answers and then chapter.**

**trustingHIM17-I am back to the story now. I wrote that, well to put in something random that I really wanted to write. Plus I wanted to be nice to Mira. Now that we are back to the plot you will see she deserved those two weeks of rest.**

**Shyer Elizabeth-I think yours is one of those that didn't show up last time so I shall respond now! I'm glad your computer is getting fixed, it sucks that it broke. Review whenever, just please review. I shall keep up the writing. The plot was dramatic before? Oh you wait and see...**

**Percy Waterblue-the questions are for fun, its all right if you didn't get the answer. I am the craziest! After all I wrote the crazy past two chapters! ;) and if that's a Pretty Little Liars reference A uses the ~ instead of the - and if its not just ignore that.**

**annabeth523-thank you, I try for humor. Percy is in the future, out and about somewhere. He thinks she's innocent but he's not for sure, and he is trying to find her. Remember this is 7 months ago relevant to the HoO series (or at least where it will be at the end of the series). Assuming that HoO ends late July and everyone gets back to came before August. I can write a Percy PoV next just to maybe remind everyone where he's at.**

**guest-correct! **

**blackjack1709-that would be correct for the chapter your on. I hope you get caught up on the story soon, thanks for reading.**

** . -I'm going to write that comment down and post it on my wall for inspiration. To remind me that people out there really love my writing and its something I don't want to give up on. Thank you 3**

**Without further ado, Chapter Sixteen!**

Chapter Sixteen~The Universe Hates Me

7 Months Ago...Mira PoV

"I!" Stomp. "Hate!" Stomp. "School!" Sadie complained as she, yes, stomped down the stairs. First day back after Christmas break and Sadie had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Most of the other kids were outside eating breakfast on the terrace which had anit-weather charms so they could eat outside and not feel cold. Just like a place I used to know.

"Well on the bright side, ummm, one semester left?" I tried to find something good about the school day. I wasn't looking forward to it much either except for- "oh wait! You get to show Carter around. That's something right?"

"My brother is going to my school, I forgot, kill me now." Sadie groaned as she fell onto the couch. I shut my laptop and slid it into my messenger bag. I finished packing my lunch and then put that in my bag too. Then I grabbed another bag and started working on another sack lunch.

"C'mon it can't be that bad, you can tell him the girl's locker room is the guys or something. Or tell him to go to the wrong class room. I don't know, something like that." Sadie was sitting up now and calculating possibilities. I really got her thinking.

"Your right," she said with a smile. "I can do that, annnddd more." She wiggled an eyebrow deviously. I laughed and dragged her outside with me to eat breakfast.

"Pass the bacon!"

"I want more eggs!"

"No spells at the table!"

"Stop giving Philip all the bacon!" Breakfast conversations at the Kane's house do indeed usually revolve around bacon. Sadie and I joined Carter, Zia, and Jaz at the had of the table.

"Oh my gods Carter," Sadie whined when she saw him. He was wearing dress shoes with a buttoned up collared shirt, black pants and a belt. "You're such the total nerd! Drew is going to target me for the rest of the school year because of you."

Drew, I narrowed my eyes. Drew wouldn't be a problem for much longer if she was still at school. Knowing her she'd be gone as soon as things got rough or if she got a better offer. Which I had tried to arrange. And if that hadn't worked I had planned a very dramatic scene to convince her my ghost was haunting the school, and her.

"Told you so," Carter said smugly to Zia.

"I guess you were right," Zia sounded disappointed. Then it clicked in my mind.

"What did I miss?" Sadie asked.

"A bet right?" I asked with a grin. "The first thing Sadie would say to you would be something about your clothes."

"You catch on fast Mira."

"Thank you very much," I said while pulled out a chair and plopped down next to Jaz. "Is there any bacon left or have the ankle biters thrown it all to Phillip?"

Jaz transferred two pieces of bacon to my plate. I handed her the extra sack lunch I had packed and we high fived. I quickly piled hash browns on my plate before anyone else could pass the plate down the table. Sadie sat next to Zia and leaned over to flick Carter.

"I hope your going to change clothes now," she muttered grumpily. "Zia managed to figure out what's acceptable." Zia was wearing jeans with boots a graphic t shirt and an Areopastle jacket. Her hair was down and it didn't look like she had any makeup on. A book bag hung off the back of her chair.

"Shoot!" I said. "I forgot my gym bag upstairs." Pros and cons of the Kane house, falling five stories and landing on a couch. Definitely a pro, climbing five flights of stairs when you leave some in your room, con. Major con.

"Get it after breakfast," Jaz said with a shrug. "You'll start remembering to check that you've got all your stuff before you jump the railing." I probably would. I joked around with Carter and Zia while I ate. Invisible magic people make really good hash browns. Twenty minutes, five flights of stairs, and one jump later I was ready to leave.

The Kanes lead me down into the warehouse, which was empty actually. Except for an elevator which they piled their bags onto around the edges and then crammed kids in. We managed to fit all twenty of us kids in. The ankle biters went to afternoon kindergarten and the adults were staying behind.

When we got out to the street we split into groups. The elementary and college students went one way and the JH and HS students went another. We only had three college kids plus two in elementary so our group was larger. The junior bags' school was just down the block from ours. Six more kids peeled away from our group after we reached the school and continued on down the block.

I found myself smiling as our group made our way across wintery campus. The ground was covered in a light layer of snow and the trees were bare. A couple of pine trees were the only color in the white wonderland.

Our group split into smaller ones as we got closer to the front doors. Some of us walked ahead and some fell behind so it looked like we arrived in many small groups. I had to hand it to the Kanes, they had this blending in stuff down pat. Jaz and I pushed the doors open and greeted Sadie again, pretending like we hadn't seen each other all Winter Break.

I got mobbed by my mortal friends as soon as I opened my locker. I placed my bag and pulled off my coat and threw that inside too. A group of girls followed me to the locker, chatting about their Winter Breaks. We started with favorite Christmas presents then we went to vacation spots and by the time I'd put my gym back up and made it back to my locker we were talking about homework.

"That spanish assignment made no sense!" Anakee stated angrily. "I mean come on, she didn't even give us the vocab!" I smiled as her rant continued. "What kind of a teacher-"

"Just shut up and switch out of her class already." Cadence said while rolling her eyes. "Honestly, its a simple solution."

"You need the credit don't you?" Rolise asked sympathetically. Anakee scowled and nodded. "I'll help you, Mira and I end up using Spanish as a study hall anyways." BAG is the school that helps you if you ask for help. Otherwise they just let us do our own thing mostly. The Spanish teacher passes out the assignment at the beginning of class and then sits at her desk and does...something. I'm not sure what but its something. Then someone asks for help so she gets up and helps them. Usually by that time I'm almost done with my assignment. Then I do other homework or ask to go to the choir room or the library. Well I don't really ask, I just write my name down and when I left the classroom. Rolise joins me pretty fast but Anakee pretty much never finishes early. She gets distracted too easily.

I guarantee you every one of her homework assignments are doodled on. Its just the way she is, an artist with anger management issues. We joke about that, she's not violent, she just rants. All the time. Rolise is a ballerina, she choreographs for the drama department. She manages to calm Anakee down most of the time. Those rare times when she doesn't calm Anakee down is when she's ticked herself. That means the techies have been pulling pranks again.

Cadence is part of the band. We tell her she plays the wrong instrument cause her name just screams percussion. She actually plays saxophone and clarinet. Sax is her favorite but she learned clarinet for some reason too. She's almost as sarcastic as Sadie.

"Mike! Gabe!" Anakee screams and takes off running down the hallway. She knocks some other kids over who are lugging backpacks full of homework to their lockers. Rolise and Cadence join her in talking to some of the guys who arrived right before the bell, as per usual. As soon as they turn their backs on me I take off. The hallway is full of kids grouped around freshly painted lockers (royal blue, one of our school colors). The floor is carpeted which gives it less of a school feeling, or so say my friends. I've never been in a 'normal' school. The lights are rectangular and spaced out so theres one about every six or so lockers. Clocks jut out from the wall on either side of the hallway. The lockers themselves are divided in half, each has a sepearte combination lock. However stacked on top of each other they're taller than me by several inches.

I come to the end of the hallway and push the door open. Its cold and gray out and I shiver as I jog to the administrative building. I follow the sidewalk past the art studio, which is a whole building, the junior senior building with their lockers and more advanced classes in the classrooms (like Trig, Calc, Shakespeare). Then there's the honor classes building which has no lockers, just classrooms. Then the drama building. The music building (for band and choir) and then finally the administrative building. All of the buildings are squares or rectangles with two hallway running through them that divide them into quarters. There's typically two or three class rooms in each 'quarter' which is about six to twelve classrooms per building. Except the administrative office which has a meeting room, the principals office, the secretary's office, and the activities coordinators offices.

Someone at our school is always doing something, whether is sports or a performance or an art exhibit. Plus the activities coordinators help other specialty schools get in touch with us and scout students for more specialized things. Its like going to college early.

I walk in through the sliding glass doors and start warming up immediately. I'm in a little room with a fire place, a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, and some magazines. Theres a glass window that looks in on the secratary's office with a door next to it. I walk up to it and press the little intercom button next to it.

A lady with soulder length brown hair and glasses looks up at me. She smiles and presses a button on the intercom on her desk.

"We thought you might come Mira, and Happy New Year by the way."

"Happy New Year Amy," I speak into the intercom. She pulls a paper off her desk and adds it to one of two piles. Her desk has a coffee cup, the intercom set, a lamp, and those two stacks of paper on it. Pictures cover her walls and a bag hangs in the corner. Amy is Miss Amy Bower actually but yet again, special school. Amy lets us call her Amy. Our principal lets us call her the Bag Lady. Well students on her goods side at least.

"Go on in, Mr. Rob is waiting for you." She presses a button and the door next to her office unlocks. I smile, wave, and walk in. The hallway has a door at the end, the principal's office, three on the right side and three on the left. Its painted a light yellow and the carpet is a rich brown color. Mr. Rob is one of the activity coordinators. His office is the second on the right, just one down from Amy.

I knock on his door and admire the new brass plate next to the door that reads 'Robert Robinson: Activity Coordinator'. You can see why we call him Mr. Rob. A second later the door opens and a man with tanned skin and slightly gray hair lets me in. He's wearing khakis and a red button up shirt. A leather jacket rests over his plushy swivel chair that's behind his 'L' shaped desk. He squeezes in behind it and I plop down in one of padded brown chairs in front of his disorganized desk. He has two open laptops, several rosters and six or seven calenders on his desk at the moment. Those are the things I can identify. There's probably three or four buried Starbucks cups somewhere.

"Let me guess, you're here to offer your services as a guide Mira?" He says while typing something into his computer.

"Yup," I say with a grin. "Any new students in need of orientation?"

"Actually we do have one in your class. Miss Callie has his folder though. I'll go get it, I think he actually has all of your classes. There's two in the grade above too. Your friends with Sadie, right? Well its her older brother and another girl. They were home schooled before. Although if you ask me Carter could be a senior right now." Mr. Rob whispers as if someone else is in his office. There's no one else though, the offices are sound proofed and there's no cameras. "Be right back." He promises as he gets up, and exits the room.

The door clicks behind me and I spring up and run around his desk. I sit on the edge of his chair and pull up an all school roster on his computer. I scan the list. No Drew, thank the universe. But, crap. Lacy. She's still here, in fact she probably doesn't know about me. I'm not sure if she stays with parents or at Camp in the Winter.

I pick up my cell and start scanning Mr. Rob's emails. I find the one I want pretty quickly. And then I smile. MFI (Manhattan Fashion Institute) emailed him yesterday asking about possible recommendations for their program. They're doing a guided tour of their school tomorrow for all those recommended.

I start a reply and type a few lines and then Lacy in. I save it as a draft and leave the email tab up. Mr. Rob won't remember it wasn't pulled up when he left his office. I haven't run into Lacy on campus yet, in fact I doubt she knows I go to this school. But still, I have to cautious. I'm dead if the Olympians find out I'm still alive. That means Lacy has to go. I should be safe for today. But I don't want to worry for the rest of the semester.

I slip around his desk and back into my chair. I keep my iPhone out and pretend to be going over my to-do list. Mr. Rob comes back in about twenty seconds later. He grins and waves a manilla folder triumphantly. "He's got your classes exactly. In fact if you just stay here you can meet him when he comes to check with Amy about his schedule."

"What's his-" I hear something thud outside. "Oh wait! I remember I promised Sadie I'd show her brother to his first class. He came in yesterday and got his schedule, he's in modern performances with me. I need to run back to the freshman sophomore hallway and grab him and my music folder. I'll be right back." I get up as if I have nothing else to do and walk down the hallway. I'm listening for something specific though. Amy waves to me and I mouth 'I'll be right back' to her.

As soon as I'm outside of the building I go sprinting around the corner. The monster is facing the woods with his back to me. I start running lighter, so that I'm not crunching the snow. Artemis taught me this. I see the spiky tail and I smile. A manticore. Percy told me about the one he faced, Dr. Thorn or something like that.

Crap, I curse mentally. I can't start back with the names or the memories. I've moved on, I don't think about _them _anymore. I crouch behind a tree and close my eyes. Focus, I need focus. I reach my hand out and wait for it. Ten seconds later something solid is in my hand. I keep my focus and I start to feel its weight. Ten more seconds and I have a curved short sword in my hand. It looks like Carter's and he's been training me to use it. It felt weird to use at first but I got better pretty quick. I'm still relearning all of my swordsmanship. My sword wouldn't go into the Duat, Carter was clueless but I knew why. Celestial bronze and Imperial gold combined (all of my old weapons are like this). Two mythologies that directly oppose Egyptian mythology. Mythologies do not mix. This is one thing I have learned.

Separate camps with no knowledge of each other plus the Egyptians we didn't even know about. Its a wonder my sword actually hasn't blown up or something yet with all the magic around it. Plus I'm wondering now how the two metals combined, I mean it was separate mythologies to begin with. Basically in the end I deemed all my weapons that I had left on me dangerous and I disposed of them all. Which means I put them in a box and buried them in an abandoned lot in Brooklyn. The throwing stars that were still in my sneakers a couple knives hidden in my backpack and two or three other magic items that were what I called as a kid 'transformers'. An ordinary object transforms into a secret weapon.

I peek around the tree and see the manticore is now moved forward slowly, sniffing the air. He doesn't know where I am. I smirk. And then I see him run off in the opposite direction. What the hell? I jump up and pursue him. He throws some spikes with a flick of his tail and then hit a tree. Someone jumps down out of it, how did I not see that? I mean there are no leaves!

The manticore swishes his tail around, sending spikes everywhere. I jump behind a tree. I start to shiver and wish I had worn my coat. I pull the hood on my jacket up. Then the manticore stops, and sniffs again. Crap, now he knows I'm here.

"I smell a mortal," he growls. "Come out come out little hero. I can smell you, the gold helps even more!" Silence. Whoever it was must be hiding again. Then the monster speaks again. "Perhaps you need some incentive!" He yells and then turns around and smashes into the base of the tree I'm behind with his tail. I roll to the left, right as someone tackles me from behind and pushes me out of the way of the falling tree. I roll away and then get to my feet. I'm still clutching my sword.

I jump to my feet and charge the manticore. He stands there shocked and then sends a volley of spikes toward my head. I dodge some of them and deflect the only one I can't dodge with my sword. Surprisingly its unharmed. "I didn't smell another!" He yells in outrage. I jump to the right and one of my feet pushes off the tree to get me behind the manticore. I slash his tail off right as a golden arrow pierces his neck. I turn around and cover my mouth as he disintegrates. His armor smashes into the snow behind me. I couch once getting the dust, that managed to get past my sleeve and into my mouth, out.

That arrow flashes before my eyes again and I stand there as if I can ignore this other demigod. I just got in the clear, just now. I got Lacy out of the school and Drew didn't come back. Of all the dumb luck, why? Why?!

"Guess I'm not alone." Someone says behind me. I freeze, not the cold kind but the dread kind. I can't ignore him or deny his presence. His voice confirmed it. Stupid universe, stupid fates, stupid Olympians. And stupid demigod who had to break the rules and come to Brooklyn. Make that demigods, if that group hadn't followed me I wouldn't have run into the Kanes. I would probably be out of the country now setting myself up in an acting school in Europe or something. Stupid demigod. Stupid world. Stupid Olympians. Or maybe just stupid me. I shouldn't have stayed so close to home.

"Well my name is-" and suddenly I can't do it. I'm mad, really mad. I just whirl around and and punch him in the gut. He doubles over and I kick his legs out from under him and pick him up by the collar and slam him into a tree. I hold him there, my arm starting to burn and then I drop him. His head comes up and I place my sword at his neck.

"Christian Sparks."

**AN: I do not have the next chapter written, sorry :) don't kill me, otherwise you'll never know how the story ends.**

**Q: The color the cyclopses's tux in the Sea of Monsters.**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN:I have a long list of terrible excuses for why this chapter wasn't posted earlier. I actually had it written two weeks ago. **

**1. Two back to back math contests that made me miss two full days of school. I got 4th in my grade level at the first one and 2nd in geometry at the second (by a freaking quarter of a point :( thats .25 just .25 )**

**2. A debate tournament over the weekend which my colleague and I took 2nd in and the team won sweepstakes.**

** practice twice a week for two hours on the days I didn't have math contest or debate.**

**4. Completing my service hours so I don't get a bad grade in school **

**5. Two back to back scholars bowl meets. We took 3rd and 4th at them out of about thirty teams at each.**

**6. Nanowrimo, I'm still catching up. I'm about two days behind thanks to reasons 1-5.**

**7. Cleaning the house for our family coming this week**

**8. Some boy troubles that I am still working on a little bit.**

**9. Back to back funerals for a fellow cheerleader's grandpa and one of my child hood friend's mom who lost her cancer battle after several long painful years. I can't write when I'm upset.**

**10. Another debate tournament**

**11. Going to watch my little sis perform at the local theater after said debate tournament**

**12. More service hours**

**13. Girls day out with my little sis (Wreck it Ralph is a very good Disney movie)**

**Sigh, long few weeks. I'm sure no one wanted to hear about my troubles but I wrote them out anyways. Responses to comments below.**

**percy jackson or seaweed brain~correct answer for that chapter**

**Guest~ correct! the update took a while, sorry.**

**annabeth523~yep. Sorry that I did make you wait.**

**Guest~there's still a seven month difference between them! I have to catch Mira up a lot more before they meet. Does everyone want a chapter that's in the present? I feel like I've been hearing this alot.**** .**

** . ~because of my grammar or why? I used to work with a BETA back when I only wrote on forums but that didn't work out so well. By the time the Beta looked over the chapter I was updating about once every two weeks to a month. Consider my current spontaneous update rate. I don't think it would work. Plus I hate someone seeing part of the story first, it feels like I'm spoiling it. I don't do spoilers.**

**Shyer Elizabeth~say it as much as you want. It just makes me happier :D correct!**

**Cousins Inc~correct for that **

**chapter****trustingHim17~it took a while, yet again sorry.**

**mrobi98~yep. I do think baby blue would look rather hideous on a monster too. Thanks**

**virtualcookies~correct for that chapter**

**.****bilboardcrabs~correct. I did not have election day off unfortunately. I had a math contest the next day though so I did get out of school but I didn't have time to write.**

**Percy Waterblue~ahhhh. that's alright. Pretty Little Liars is a mystery/murder kind of story set in modern day with some very very good liars as the main characters. It is a girly series.**

**So anyways, chapter dedicated to said friends who lost their mom. I think I might start adding dedications before my chapters.**

Chapter Seventeen-As If That Wasn't Enough...

"Mira?" I step back from him and look up, my hood feel down some time during the fight. He looks down and then up slowly. I don't answer him. He looks pretty typical, golden bow and matching quiver (only missing one arrow), lose jeans, Nikes, and a hoodie from American Seventeen-As If That Wasn't Enough...

"Christian."

"Oh gods..."

"That all you can say?" I ask while stepping back and crossing my arms, my sword sticking out the side. Its really awkward to try and cross your arms while holding something sharp.

"You died, your dead, you died, ghost? No," he spins his bow once and then looks at me. "You faked it."

"You of all people should have known." I thought you did, I whispered in my mind. I glare at him even more. "Now swear and get lost." I'm trying to decipher his expression but I can't tell what he's thinking. I know he knows what I mean. I want to to just say it and get it over with. At the same time if I had to force him to say it I'm sure I wouldn't mind punching him a few more times.

"I swear on the River Styx to tell no one your alive, hint at it, or indirectly communicate the information in any way." That's exactly what I would have had him say if I wrote that out and gave it to him to read. I nod and turn to leave. I'm just going to ignore him at this point.

"Bye Mira, hope you have fun with life." I can't help but respond to that.

I turn around and stand there about ten feet away from him. "Our final goodbye happened a month ago and it wasn't very good. Forget you ever ran into me. And leave me alone...I don't need you screwing up my life anymore." I whisper the last part to myself as I turn and leave. I tread lightly on the snow and make my way back to school. Of all the dumb luck I had to run into him right here today. At least he had the decency to swear and leave. I though I might have to force him, him being the perfect little Roman soldier he is.

Why, why of all the freaking people to run into. Why him? Why now, when I was so close to a clean get away. I was moving on and now. I clench my hands into fists. I'm mad at him, I've been mad at him since that night when I saw that flash of blond hair in the cafe.

He knew me, he knew my style, my favorite moves, my strategies. Did he really believe I would just give up? He shouldn't have! He should have known I was alive. He should have known me better. I want to turn around and go back and yell at him now. Just scream my mind at him.

How badly he hurt me when he just turned and left. How I'm doing that now. I'm not going to say anything to him, the silent treatment, that's what he'll get. And maybe he'll be stuck wondering for the rest of his life. What if he had talked to me that day? What if he had talked to me now? Or followed me or tried to apologize or tried to bring me in?

At the same time I'm wondering what if too. What if I had asked him why? What if I had asked him what I really did wrong? Why he chose to chase me? Did he chose to chase me? No that question is a yes. I know that. Has he regretted it all, thought back to our good 'ol days when we were running around the Berkeley Hills every other night. Chasing monsters, saving each other's lives, memorizing each other. Being crazy teenagers having a good time making memories. Being as normal and as demigodly as possible. Having that sense of security, knowing someone's watching your back? Did that fight remind him of that? We looked out for each other without even knowing it, its just instinct.

I shake my head and try to push it all down. The questions, the anger, the bitterness, the disappointment, and the sadness. I kind of hoped maybe just once or twice (okay a lot more than that) that it was all a misunderstanding. That he knew I was alive and he was looking for me. We'd make something work, we always did. But that is a farfetched day dream from a broken girl. I haven't thought about him since the first few days. I'm strong enough to stand alone, I don't need him to support me or to lean on or anything. I don't need him or them. I moved on, I have the Kanes now. A new life that they aren't part of so they can't ruin.

I come back around the front of the administrative office and start walking down the snow covered sidewalk. I shove my hands deeper into my pockets. And then I run into Carter about halfway back to the freshman/sophmore building. He's holding a black folder, a little notebook, and a blue and gold pencil pouch. He holds them out to me. "Jaz said you'd need them."

"Thanks," I tell him with the best smile I can manage. My confidence and feeling of security have pretty much gone out the window though. Or maybe I left them back there with _him_. We turn around and walk in silence to the admin office.

"So you remember all we taught you over break, right?" Apparently we're going to pass Carter off as a drummer. I though we definitely should have tried for him to be another story writer, like Cleo. Sadie convinced him to play a bit for me and she was right. Carter has a good mind for patterns and rhythms. Plus banging things with sticks brings out the Horus in him.

All of the musical kids helped teach him how to read music and we think we did a pretty good job. "Yeah, it wasn't that hard."

"Yeah you are just-"

"-banging things with sticks, which is the same thing as banging someone with a sword. Ya know if you squint at it." We both laugh. That's what Sadie told him word for word. We make it back to the admin building and Mr. Rob is waiting for us in the waiting room. He hands me the manila folder and turns me around then pushes me toward the door.

"Your going to be late, the kid stopped in just a minute ago. I'm glad to see you found Carter. Someone else volunteered to help Zia since she's on different schedule. You're going to have to grab a sophomore to help Carter to all of his classes after this. Don't be late, have fun, bye!" Mr. Rob says in a rush and pushes us out the door.

I smile and tell Carter about Mr. Rob on our way back to the music building. "He never stops, his office is a mess, and he's one of the funnier teachers on campus. Plus he's responsible for setting up all of our concerts so I end up planning with him quite a bit. He's really really nice too."

The sidewalk split in two two and Carter and I followed it toward the brick building that looked kind of like a really modern house more than a school. The glass doors slid open, two sets of them, the hallways were the same the the ones in the freshman/sophomore building except the walls were painted with music notes and symbols dancing down them. They were bright colors on a black background. The carpet was a goldy color. I led Carter down to the room in the back right corner. I opened the wood door, which was extremely thick since all these rooms are sound proofed.

The first sound to reach our ears was an electric guitar. I smile as we stepped inside the room. Several chairs were scattered about on three tiers in front of us. The walls had same same bright music notes and such on the black background on the the carpet was black in here too. A lone music stand was in front of the tiers. This only took up about a third of the room. The other two thirds had musical instruments hanging off the walls in the back and then on our left an elevated area mean to represent a stage. We even had curtains and spotlights. A bunch of kids were crowded around someone on the stage.

They were all silent which means they were listening carefully to the performer. Our class is extremely noisy when someone's not performing. The bell rung and everyone fell silent. Then being a music class people scurried to their instruments and vocal people stood up straight and took a deep breath. The snare drum started in first and I mouthed 'tell you about it later' to Carter. We sang our national anthem and then the snare drum went into a little impromptu solo.

Modern performances is basically a group of people who can sing or play instruments and we sing, well modern songs. We jokingly refer to it as pop choir even though we sing country and soul and a bunch of other different genres. Basically we sing cool new songs by artists we actually know. And when you get the chance you show off so everyone can be wowed.

The guitar starts back in, just going with the solo. It sounds pretty cool. I look over at Carter, his hands are moving. I nudge him and point out the quads. "Go for it," I whisper. The trumpet starts back up and Carter hesitates before grabbing two mallets and starting in. The rest of the kids left start moving around and dancing.

"Zippy grab a mike!" Josh, our snare drum player shouts. "Someone get the new dude music for Don't Stop Believin'." I run over to the wall and grab a mike and flip it on. Jada jumps on the piano and everyone cuts off. I stand at the front of the stage and the kids not on an instrument either grab one or go out and stand in front of us on the stage as the audience. Jada starts and my foot starts tapping with the music.

"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world." I sing. "She took the midnight train, going anywhere." I take a breath and gone on with the song. By the time the guitar started in I was dancing a bit. By the refrain I was totally in it. I was bouncing around, flipping my hair, waving my other arm around, moving the mike from hand to hand.

My classmates go into it with me. They belted out the refrain, harmonizing with my voice. They didn't even come close to overpowering me though, our sound system is that good. I had to hand it to the guitar guy, he was good. If this was all sight reading then he was amazing.

I threw both of my arms in the air and finished the last note. Everyone burst out talking and clapping at the same time. I turned around and fist bumped Josh and Carter who had been on the drums. Ian, who was on secondary guitar, and Jada. I shot a thumbs up to the sound booth through the clear class window. They smiled back and waved. "Zippy!" Josh shouted at me from behind. I turned around grinning. "Meet our new guitarist, Christian Sparks." I didn't drop my grin but it suddenly felt really forced.

I walked up to Christian, who still had the red electric slung across his body. He looks exactly the same as he did ten minutes ago. Gosh freaking dang him! This isn't fair I was home free! Twice! And the universe just had to screw with me. Oh not only are you going to run into him but he's going to your school now! Just wait till lunch. If another monster shows up they're going to die a very painful death. I'm filling up with anger now, lots of it. And I need a way to get rid of it all and soon. Maybe I can do some magic in between classes. Then again if I try that I could screw up a spell because I'm too angry to focus. I'm just going to have to grin and bear this. Although I would much rather punch something.

I should have seen it coming though. Apollo, god of the arts. Of course Christian is musically gifted, probably artistically too. From the instant I heard the new guy was a guitar player I should have know. Or maybe since I knew the new student was a guy and I ran into Christian outside of the admin office. Gah, I was stupid.

He stares and me and grins. Then he holds out a hand. "I take it Zippy's just a nickname?" As if he doesn't know. Jerk, but we both have to act like we don't know each other. Or risk assembling an uncoordinated lie that we'd be thinking up as we went. I'd rather meet him for the 'first time' than pretend I ran into him at McDonald's and he noticed I needed help on my math homework or something like that. I still want to slap the smirk off his face.

"Oh yeah. Christian Sparks meet Mira Pharaoh. Mira meet Christian." I shook his hand and tried not to squeeze it off. "She's probably the one who was supposed to show you around." Josh added. Ahhh, why did he have to remind me? Christian frowns at me, probably thinking about my last name. He's probably surprised I have one.

"Sorry about that, I waited at the office for a while but then I had to go get Carter. Oh gosh. Hey Carter!" I shout and wave at him across the room. He breaks away from his group and jogs over to us. His eyes widen for a split second at Christian, he manages not to explode though. Or say something judgmental (oh hey look the backstabbing best friend has returned to finish the job or maybe fake an apology!) , I'll have to thank him later.

"Josh Hodges meet Carter Kane. Carter meet Josh. He's the snare drum. Occasionally trap set. And then Christian meet Carter, Carter meet Christian Sparks." I said in what I hoped wasn't a monotone. Or an overly angry voice. I can feel the heat of my anger all the way down to the tips of my fingers.

"Nice impromptu on the quad," Josh tells Carter and soon enough they get sucked into a conversation. Christian and I stare awkwardly at each other. I try not to fiddle with my clothes or hair, I just stare. Then I glare. I'm not scared of him. I cross my arms and I'm about to start a hissed conversation with several insults and death threats when our teacher walks in.

"Class!" Mr. Al shouts. "Last one standing sings." We all race over to the chairs on the risers. I jump up onto the second riser and then hurdle over the chairs on the first riser and sit down in the one closet to the wall. That's my seat. Christian is right behind me and tries to sit in the chair next to me. Carter cuts him off and sits in the chair next to me. Christian darts up to the second riser and sits behind me instead.

"Hey!" Jada interjects and then quickly finds another seat. There's two empty seats left. And the last one to sit down is a tie between two kids so Mr. Al waves it off with a smile. 'Last one standing sings' means exactly that. The last one to sit down and shut up has to sing a solo, audience's pick. Josh got caught last time. We made him sing 'TTYL XOX' by Bella Thorne. It was hilarious, and terribly off pitch, but mostly hilarious. And the Youtube video got over a thousands hits within an hour.

"Alright, so most of you have met our two new students. Christian Sparks, guitarist, and Carter Kane, percussionist. Everyone else introduce yourself just in case. Mira." I stand up and turn to face well the two guys sitting beside me.

"Mira Pharaoh, vocalist." I say simply and sit down. One by one the members introduce themselves. Our class is only about twenty people. Its fun though cause we're all really close cause its really small.

This is bugging me, I need to know what he's thinking and we need to talk right now. I shift around a bit and I can hear Christian doing the same thing behind me. "Umm, Sir?" Our teacher's gray hair covered head turns toward him. He adjusts his glasses while waiting for Christian to say something. He's wearing brown pants, a belt, and a green oxford. "Can Mira show me around the music building?" Carter stiffens up beside me. His right hand twitches and starts to reach for something.

"I should probably take Carter too," I say quickly. I'll have to talk to Christian later, there are some things Carter can't know. Carter relaxes and I know Christian is thinking of ways to ditch him. Mr. Al nods in consent and I pop out of my seat. "Right boys, follow me." We're out of the room in a second and out in the hallway. I take them down to the door that leads out to the side walk. Then we go down the other hallway.

"Okay recording room in there, full size stage on the left however its just for practice. The auditorium, gyms, library, and cafeteria are all in separate buildings. Umm any questions?" I turn around and look at them. Carter is glaring at Christian rather intimidatingly. Its even scarier cause he's taller than Christian by about two or three inches. I'm shorter than them both.

Christian is staring at me like he's trying to figure out what I'm thinking. Oh wait, that will be exactly what he's trying to figure out. I raise and eyebrow at him and then give Carter my best 'let me deal with this' look. He stops glaring, just a little bit. I feel like I'm trying to abort nuclear war. At the same time I want to be the one starting the war. Or at least a fist fight.

"Well we should probably get back to class," without killing each other, I add in my head. Not that I wouldn't be happy to murder Christian right about now.

**AN: What does Poseidon and Percy think Paul's last name is?**


	18. Chapter 18

******New chapter, yeah! Um, yeah it took a while. We're back to Percy since I got several requests. The long paragraph in bold beneath is all responses in order of date. Most recent is at the top. Feel free to skip to the chapter. I do not own Percy Jackson characters of Kane Chronicle characters.**

******SpiritGaurdian108-Percy's back right now. Thank you, I did rather enjoy throwing him in there. I'm sure if my characters were real both Mira and Christian would be mad at me.****  
********.****  
********Ukulele Pichu-As requsted, Percy's PoV and a PoV swing from a new character (well not new but one I haven't written for before). Thank you for not being afraid to tell me something that wasn't singing my praises. I like to know what everyone thinks and I can definetly change PoVs if some people are getting bored.**

******stikenote-thank you :) correct Here's more Percy right now and thanks for that Annabeth thing. I will be editing those first few chapters...eventually.**

******Cassidy daughter of Hermes-thank you for responding to a ton of my questions, I love getting reviews.**

******Lilli-I know, I hate starting a story and then waiting for an ending that will never be written. This story shall stay alive! and correct.**

******Brendan-correct, and thanks for commenting on a bunch of chapters. I love getting lots of reviews.****  
********Martin-thank you, I hope you keep enjoying it.**

******annabeth523-They shall, no worries. But I heard a lot of requests for Percy and PoV switches first so that shall come first. Thank you. Blowfish is correct.**

******dustin leask-correct**

******Lillian Stone-thanks for taking the time to reply even though you weren't caught up. Reading comments really does make my day. 'Specially when I have a lot.**

******Wolfgod74-correct!**

******. ****-.********I've never noticed that. Thank you. I guess I do shift around a lot. I'm gonna have to edit soon. Blofis was his name. Such a fun name to make fun of. All righty I'll cut down on the authors notes. Would it help if I put replies at the end?**

******blackjack1709-yep**

******Shyer Ever Elizabeth-You made your own acount, for me? I am in awe right now. Christian and Mira are obviously going to have some problems in the future. Who knows what will come out of that. Oh wait, I do! ;)**

******yolcholl-Blowfish would be correct.**

******Percy Waterblue-Correct, thank you. Here's the chapter.**

******Hope I responded to everyone. Enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter Eighteen~An Old Guy Sends Me to a Museum...oh joy

I'm honestly not sure how long I wandered around Brooklyn. I mean most people wouldn't listen to a glowing old man who appeared in their mother's living room but you know I've seen crazier. A glowing old man, that's actually pretty normal.

We had a quick conversation while time seemed to stand still which freaked me out at first. I thought of Luke and Kronos and was ready to tackle him with Riptide in my hand but he laughed and told me he was not a threat. And since I'm a demigod when I run into crazy old people I usually get mysterious prophecies or visions or dreams or something like that. Or just a few words that make no sense. Or warnings about destroying the world or saving my friends. So naturally I was ready for this guy to start spewing out some crazy prediction. Like "your going to resurrect your sister with a cat while singing a Miley Cyrus song" or "the answer is in the fortune cookie in the seventeenth Dragon's mouth". That kinda stuff, ya know?

I was definitely not prepared for our actual conversation. It went something like...

"_Are you the old oracle or messenger of fate whose going to give me another doomsday prophecy?" He chose to ignore that question._

"_How much do you know about mythology?"_

"_I saved Olympus a year ago, I live a modern myth."_

"_All of the mythologies?"_

"_Are you going to tell me the Norse exist too? And that I have to stop a war between us? Cause I am not getting amnesia and switching camps again. My mom would ground me until I move out." _

_He threw his head back and gave this old wise chuckle and then muttered about 'back in the day'. I gave him a strange look. He shook his bald wrinkly head and finally gave me the 'I am old and wise beyond your understanding' phrase. Which was simply, "you though Greeks were the only ones, then in came the Romans. Nothing is ever that simple."_

"_I learned that a long time ago. Like when I was twelve."_

"_You miss her," I really perked up when he said that. I knew who he was talking about. "The time is nearing for more worlds to collide. There will be war, or if a miracle is found, peace."_

"_Back to my first question. Are you going to give me a prophecy that predicts my death, the fall of Olympus, or an apocalypse? Cause that wouldn't be very original." Annabeth would have smacked me and told me 'have some respect'._

_Cue old wise chuckle again and mysterious glint in his eyes. "You must move on Percy. Brooklyn would be a dangerous place to travel to. Mira knew so, it was her desperate attempt to evade Fate. In trying to do so she ended up on the right path for her."_

"_She had to die?"_

"_Mira had to be returned to where she belonged. Thousands of years ago she was an important person. Unfortunately Olympus recognized this when she reappeared in the mortal world. Fate had to correct that error, I am sorry you suffered from it." I looked away from him. I didn't know what else to say. I was upset but I really couldn't yell at him, if I ever ran into the Fates again though..._

"_What now?" I asked to fill the silence._

"_You tell me."_

"_I want to find where she made her last stand. Maybe her ghost will talk to me. Ghosts of girls I used to know historically wait for me to show up before they appear again." Bianca, I thought with a small pang in my heart._

"_Brooklyn is still to dangerous for demigods, especially you Percy. The Hero of Olympus is well known in the immortal world."_

"_Still?"_

"_Change is coming. I advise you go back to Camp. You'll forgive them soon."_

"_No I won't," I told him while I clenched my fists. "They left my little sister for dead. I'm here to protect this one."_

"_I can promise she will be safe so long as you don't stay here. You have an immortal spotlight of attention trained on you Percy, by staying you'll draw more attention to Emme."_

"_What should I do then?"_

"_You tell me." He said with an amused expression. I'm starting to hate that phrase._

"_I want answers."_

"_Then seek the answers, if you do have to venture into Brooklyn do not speak to anyone, do not draw your sword, and do not jump into a fight that is not yours. Good luck Perseus Jackson." He flashed out like any other god, bright light, look away, and then they're gone. It was another few seconds before Mom and Paul started moving again. It was then that I realized I never got his name._

I just wandered around streets, looking for something. The old guy made it sound like I should know where to start looking for my answers. Honestly I was clueless, and no way was I going to call Annabeth and ask for help. That conversation would go well. 'Can you tell me where you murdered my sister?' then 'I am not on speaking terms with you seaweed brain' cue a fight after that and yeah. Well I'm still ticked at all of Camp so I'm out here walking around. I'm feeling a little tired so I head toward the next Starbucks. I can see the sign on the next corner.

I realized where I am now. The green lawns sprinkled with trees. The sign nest to the drive way. The buildings on the campus that look like anything but a school. Brooklyn Academy for the Gifted. Mira's old school. I ducked my head and moved past, trying to surpress memories.

I remember the Starbucks too. She warned me that the crazy gifted students from her school always hung out there. She introduced me to those crazy gifted friends and they were almost enough to rival my demigod friends on both accounts. The door dinged as I opened it and walked in side. I checked my pockets for cash and found a bill fold in them that I didn't recognize. I opened it and found a Credit Card, an ATM card, my drivers license, and some cash. I was pretty shocked. The money looked legit though so I pulled out a ten and placed my order. Surprisingly it was empty. Well duh Percy, school's out.

The latte was steaming hot but as soon as I took a sip I woke right up. Half because I burned my tongue and half cause of the sugar and caffeine that jolted my brain.

I made my way to one of those little coffee tables with couches and weird looking chairs scattered around it and I did a search of my jean pockets. I had Riptide, the wallet, and one crisp ticket to a...museum. I definitely did not put that there.

I guess that old guy was helping me out and I was too stupid to notice. Go figure. I could hear Annabeth laughing and saying 'seaweed brain' in my mind. I stared at the ticket and tried to decipher the name of the museum. I could ask someone directions.

Or I could get lucky again and the address was printed under the name. Strangely I was able to read the fine print for the address easier than the museum name. That's where I'm heading. I stood up and started out the door. I was going to head down the steps to the Subway that were just across the street when I noticed something, no someone, on my left. Coming down the block was no other than the Latino Santa Elf himself. I turned my head and rounded the corner. I'd find a different way down to the subway latter. I need to ditch whoever was on my trail first.

Leo PoV~Same Time as Percy

They're still missing. Time and space, that's what was recommended. Annabeth didn't believe though, if she had she wouldn't have run off in the middle of the night. Nico and Thalia ran off the middle of the argument, the satyr guy too. Camp wasn't sure what to do, so someone stepped up.

Frank and Hazel surprisingly. They organized a search party which Piper and I volunteered for immediately, Jason joined after a while too. Chiron wasn't too keen on the idea of demigods in Brooklyn. He said we were allowed a quick sweep if we had evidence that Percy was in Brooklyn.

With some help from Malcom I managed to hack all of the traffic cameras in Brooklyn. We set up a facial recognition program that picked up a ninety percent match for Percy. We didn't wait to be told if that was enough evidence. Beauty Queen and I were sent out into the field because our scents were most likely to be not detected.

Now I'm standing here on a crowded corner in Brooklyn. I have Malcom talking in my right ear with a modified Blue Tooth.

"Okay turn right and then try and speed up a bit Leo. Look for Percy." I do what he says without talking back or cracking a joke. I didn't know Percy as well as some people but he was a good friend and a great leader. I ran away after I lost my mom so I don't blame him. But from what I've heard Brooklyn is dangerous, like life threatening dangerous. We need to get him out of here other wise we would give him space.

"Ahhh man, there's a lot of guys who've got dark hair but I can't see their faces well enough to see if they're Percy. This is not gonna work dude. Not unless you can narrow down the search a bit more."

"He's within two blocks of you, that's the best I can do at the moment."

"I should have stayed back," I mutter to myself while I get pushed around the crowded sidewalk. Some yells at me, a girl smiles, I almost trip over a dog. Typical Brooklyn sidewalk.

"Left, then straight." Malcom instructs. "We've got you within a block of him now."

I try to focus, I honestly do. And walk in a straight line. Not easy for an ADHD kid. I get distracted after a few seconds and of course I manage to run into something. A sign for a school. I stumble back a few more steps and look at the school. There was a drive way that wove back into what looks like a park. It's dotted with trees and bushes and a pavilion I think. A few fountains and benches as well. Nice school.

I tried to read the sign but my dyslexia objected so I gave up. "Which way now Malcom?" I asked.

"Not sure, give me a second, just wait where ever you are." Easy for him to say that. I crossed over the drive way and then made my way across the lawn to the first tree. I slumped down next to it and leaned back against it.

Its been a couple hours since I started out in Brooklyn. Its only a matter of time before Chiron calls us back. I think that would hit everyone pretty hard. They want Percy back so they can make excuses and ask for forgiveness.

Clarisse hasn't started a fight all day from what I've heard. She's hit a low point, almost depression. Chris is trying his best to pull her out but he's also trying to pick the Stolls up again. And the entire Demter Cabin has been babying Katie who hasn't spoke since. Would Beckendorf been in on this too? And Silena. I can't help but wonder about the two of them at times.

"Leo, we lost him. And Chiron says its time to pull out. We'll give it another go tomorrow. Clarisse has volunteered to take your place as well." I nod, it was only a matter of time. Hopefully the others are picking up by now and they'll want to be out and about. The Stolls are fun guys to be around but like this, its depressing.

"Got it man, I'm gonna hit Starbucks before I come back. I need caffeine."

"No you don't."

"Your right, but I want some." I grin as I pull some money out of my tool belt. I was sporting it all around Brooklyn but I'm sure its not the weirdest thing anyone had seen. Beside I can totally pull off wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a tool belt. It's Leo Style.

I get up and walk back to the sidewalk which runs right by a Starbuck on the edge of the campus. There's a patio behind it and a back entrance, lucky school kids. Its probably a private school though, the kind a kid like me could only ever hope to get into on a scholarship. And I'm not exactly scholarship material.

I push open the glass doors and walk inside while inhaling. Coffee and over priced snacks. I love Starbucks, 'cept when I'm paying. I purchase a vanilla latte and some really good looking chocolate cake. Then I settle down onto one of the long and low couches toward the back of the room. The back door is behind me and I hear it open with a ring right as I settle down to start cramming my face with chocolate cake.

"Tanner!" Someone shouts and the bells on the door ring. "It's just me today." Before I can turn around some one vaults over the couch and uses it as a spring board to jump over the coffee table. She lands in a crouch then literally bounces right back up.

"By the way try outs are tomorrow, not next week, and the scouts and tour guides will be bringing potentially freshman through next week instead. So except lots of business after this week." Her voice is bright and bubbly. Like a little kid almost.

"I hope you didn't scare our customer out of his wits," another voice fires back, its the guy at the register. The girl freezes, she's been shifting around and bouncing on her toes a bit. Then she turns around. She's half blushing and half smiling at me.

My first impression of her was that she was a Barbie doll. She's got long blond hair pulled back in pony with this really sparkly blue ribbon in her hair. Her limbs are lean and she looks athletic. Her shirt is the same blue as her ribbon and her eyes I notice. She's wearing black running shorts with neon Nikes. Add the light blush and her two dimples and yes she looked exactly like a Barbie.

"Sorry, didn't see you there." She apologizes with a growing smile. "Plus no body ever comes to this Starbucks, everyone in the neighbor hood knows the high school kids are prone to running through the back door. And bouncing off the furniture, and racing through here during study hall."

"Its no big deal and I guess I'm pretty obviously not from around here then."

"Yep," she says popping the 'p'.

"So can I get the name of the girl who almost jumped on top of me?" I ask with a smile. She laughs and smiles wider, I think her smile is cutting her face in half by now but she's got the kind of face that's mean to have a smile on it.

"Jazmine, but call me that and I will jump on you. I go by Jaz."

"Aw come on don't you think that's a bit harsh for a guy who's name you don't know?" I ask with a smirk. She seems to think it over for a moment.

"I guess." She says with a fake sigh. The guy from the cash register comes back toward us and hands Jaz a frappe. She hands him a five and he goes back behind the counter.

"Good, then I'm not gonna tell you my name yet Miss Jazmine." I wink at her and she crosses her arms and tries to look imposing. She actually looks cute, even though she's glaring at me.

"Not fair." Then the glare shifts to a smile again. "I'll just have to give you a name. You look like a Clarence or I know! Eugene, nice to meet you Eugene."

"Eugene?" I ask in disbelief. "No way. Do I look like a Eugene to you?" She giggles.

"Nope but until you give me your name its Eugene." She sits next to me and starts sipping her frappe.

"Alright you win, _Jaz. _ It's Leo." She smiles in triumph.

"Nice to meet you Leo. What brings you around here?" She's studying me now. "Its the school isn't it!" Jaz says excitedly. "Wait don't tell me, I want to guess what your gifted at." She studies my appearance. School? What the heck.

"Your a tinker or a mechanic. Something hands on and probably in the art division. Unless your a tech guy for the drama department?"

"School? Its summer!" I protest, her smile wavers a bit. Then she finds something else to be positive about since I'm obviously not here for the school.

"Oh, guess you're not here for the school then." She pulls an iPhone out of the waistband of her shorts. Her fingers dance across the screen and I try not to stare. She laughs and then mutters something to herself that sounds like a foreign language.

"The freshmen and transfers who's applications are accepted or who were 'recruited' by our scouts are given a tour roughly a month before school starts. This year its a little late though. So I guess your not here for the school then. What's up with the tool belt?"

"Its Leo Style," I tell her with a head nod. She gives me this look that's like 'really?' "Naw I actually am pretty good at hands on stuff, building and tinkering. Electronics and machines too. Big or small." Big as in huge, or colossal.

"Can you show me?" She asks eagerly. I think about it for a moment and then give in to her hopeful smile and blue eyes. I pull out one of my unfinished projects from a pouch. Its a little cube, but when you tap it shifts into a Transformer. I was working on making it look like a car and then building a bunch for fun. Plus Conner and Travis kinda asked for them for a prank they're going to pull soon. I place the cube on the coffee table next to my chocolate cake which is still untouched and tap the top of it.

Little lines appear over it as it starts to shift into human like robot. Jaz watches in awe. It stands before her and I tap it again. Its back into a cube in a few seconds. She smiles and applauds it.

"That was awesome!" She exclaims. "Never seen anything like it. And I know some pretty nerdy people who are into those kinds of things."

Nerdy, of course. I'm talking to a freaking blond Barbie Cheerleader girl. Of course a guy who can build robots is nerdy. Did I mention I can throw fire balls and kick monster butt? Probably not. Those are two of my better features you know.

"Nerdy in a special way, not like a bad way." I snort at that.

"Special is the nice way of saying different." Trust me I've heard it enough from kids at schools and orphanages before. Not that I'd ever say it bothers me. But I hate hearing it so much.

"No, special like talented, as in a kid who can build a mini transformer." I think she might have said something else but her phone started blaring some music that sounded familiar. The voice sounded like someone I'd heard before.

"Oh gosh," she rolled her eyes and tapped something out fast. "My friends are getting impatient. I should probably go. It was nice to meet you, and well, I hope to see you around." She blushed a little and I sat there dumb struck. She got up and grabbed her frappe.

"Bye Jaz," I managed to choke out in shock. Her phone started blaring that familiar music again and she held it up to her ear.

"Heya, wait Sadie? Why are-" Jaz pushed the back door open and then frowned. I wasn't watching, well okay maybe just a little. "Who's there? Crap. Where's-" a two second silence then "-Zippy? I'm coming." She ran out the back door and I just stared.

That was a first for me. I met a cute girl who didn't turn her nose up and didn't transform into some horrible monster. By thinking this I probably jinxed myself. I'm gonna end up fighting Jaz in a week, she's gonna be some evil Barbie princess. Just like Khione. Or maybe I've finally gotten lucky. I should probably get home now, I shouldn't have stopped but its not like I had anything better to do today, besides stumble back home and listen to depressed people play the blame game.

******So I don't have anything written. Do you want more Mira or more Percy? Don't be afraid to tell me. Or more Leo, he had quite the day ;)**

******Q: What is Walt's last name?**

******Edited 12/25 all I changed was the ending, sorry but Jaz wanted to be somewhere else in the next chapter soooo yeah, had to be changed.**


	19. Chapter 19

**IMPORTANT: Last chapter's ending was edited because I realized Jaz needed to be somewhere else. You don't have to go back and read it, just know that she left Leo in the coffee shop and that he over heard the phone call later in the chapter but he only heard what Jaz said.**

**A poll will be put up on my profile for favorite point of view. You can also vote after each chapter in your comments. If the PoV doesn't have to be a certain person then the fan favorite gets the chapter. Just note that some chapters do have to be from a certain point of view for certain events. Thank you, Merry Christmas.**

**Guest-Correct, that's awesome. I'd like to have siblings like the two of them. My life would never be boring.**

**Guest-More Percy coming right up!**

**Guest-sorry Percy got the vote this time but I'll keep Leo in mind, he'll get another chapter soon. Correct.**

**Lilli-yep. Another Mira, she'll come back in soon. Zippy is Mira's nick name, I made it up. It was a joke about the school being named BAG. If you're still confused I'll pm you and clarify more.**

**annabeth523-thank you! Leo and Mira, well I can't say, that would be spoiling. But this chapter will, umm, to say without totally spoiling it, clarify Leo's role in the story ;)**

** Percy son of Zeus-yes!**

** stikenote-more Percy coming right up! And correct!**

** trustingHim17-thank you, yeah this is Percy but as stated Mira will come back eventually. Correct!**

** Shyer Ever Elizabeth-you are right, totally my bad. My inner writer realized it cause I had writer's block until I went back and edited the ending. Jaz had somewhere else to be but on a date. After I fixed that the chapter just flowed. Yes Leo was included, he's fun to write for. Piper or Jason, not so much. More Percy has arrived. Read the chapter, I'm sure the end will have you jumping for joy, can't say much else without spoiling. Mira has had a lot. I guess that's kinda my fault for setting it so far back in the past but if I started in Mira's time then I couldn't write Percy chapters cause then I'd be predicting the future almost. Does that make sense? Probably not. No I was just really sick when I wrote that chapter, probably why I thought Jaz wasn't being overly nice when she was being a total Sue. So yeah I just added the first question that came to mind.**

** SpiritGaurdian108-more Percy has arrived!**

** Percy Waterblue-correct and as said, Percy gets the whole chapter. Enjoy!**  
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Chapter Nineteen~I set the Hero's Record for End of the World Prophecies

Percy PoV (Same time that Leo PoV took place last chapter)

I'm not exactly sure why I'm at the Met. Okay I have no clue what I'm doing at the Met. Apparently my ticket was good for some extra special VIP thing that doesn't begin for another fifteen minutes so I'm out here in the normally gallery. I've been going through the mythologies.

It wasn't really that interesting to me though. I mean I've seen better artifacts in way better shape. And some of the stories aren't totally true. The gods probably don't want mortals knowing the real versions though. Like, 'oh wait there were two Titan Wars. When was the Second? Oh umm, just last year. But its not a big deal because the Second Giant War just ended. You should have been concerned about both but what you don't know can't hurt you. Well actually the Titans killed a couple mortals, not that you'd know that.' Yeah that would not be a fun conversation to have. No its much easier to hide behind the Mist.

Personally there is no point for museums in my life. I mean just look at my life. I've met most of the myths. Some of the people mentioned are my half brothers. Which is cool and freaky at the same time. You know how teachers have those activities at the beginning of the year. Like name one person who has two older brothers and how much older they are. I'd love to do one of those at Camp Half Blood. I'm sure it would be hilarious.

Now I'm somewhere at the end of the Roman and Greek galleries and I should start working my way back to the beginning. I'm supposed to meet my 'tour guide' there. I'm gonna be honest, I'm expecting a monster or some old enemy of mine. These kinds of things always turn out to be a trap. This is for Mira though, I'm going to get the answers.

The Eygptian gallery is just before this one. There's a flock of tourists in it, crowded around this stone Temple like thing. There's a sign on the wall that says it actually is a temple, the Temple of Dendur. Must have taken a long time to move to America from Eygpt.

"Excuse me!" A secruity guard shouted while forcing his way through the crowd. "We're doing some restoration with some of the artifacts in the gallery and we need this room completely cleared. Thank you for your cooperation." I stepped out of the doorway and let all of the grumbling tourists push past me.

"Keep moving people!" The security guard shouted again and I blinked. It was a girl. Not just any girl, but a teen age girl. And she wasn't dressed like a security guard any more. She was wearing pjs in the museum. They were dyed black and made her look like some ninja angry sleep over girl cross over. You know, the kind of thing that's popular at Halloween now a days. I pretty sure that most girls and most ninjas don't have blond and red hair. It made her look scary, crazy, and some what in charge. The way she stood up tall and stomped her combat boots. She certainly had an interesting fashion sense.

"Please hurry up, thank you," this time she sounded a lot more sarcastic. I frowned as I stood up a little more to try and watch her over the crowd's heads. She was short but I could pick her out easily. I mean the black pjs and red hair are enough of a give away but combat boots and a confident strut made her super easy to watch. She picked up a staff that was leaning against the wall. It was carved but I couldn't make out the pictures from here.

"Don't mess with the displays Sadie," someone teased off to her right.

"Hey this one's mine, and the ones they have on display aren't legit. The House replaced them with clever fakes a long time ago. To be safe. Ugh the tourists are taking forever!" They talked like no one else was around. It was strange.

"Aren't you a bit young to be a security guard?" A lady asked in a snobbish voice. 'Sadie' stood up a little taller which made her about five foot two. She spread her feet apart and held her chin up and stared up at the lady.

"No I'm not, this is my badge." She held a napkin in front of the lady's face. "Could you please keep moving Ma'am? You're blocking the exit. Thank you and have a nice day." The lady nodded, smiled, and moved on. My eyes widened. It was just like Thalia back when we went to retrieve Nico and Bianca. Did this Sadie know how to use the Mist? Chiron had taught me but the mortals never went along with it just like that. They always had a little hesitation. Unless they were really weak minded.

"Geez Sadie, I didn't know you had that kind of manners." A different person teased.

"Quick some one pronounce it the end of the world, Sadie the Crazy has become civilized." The first voice said sarcastically.

"I'd rather that not happen unless you want what happened in the Spring to happen again. Specifically the part about your girlfriend glowing and then getting eaten by an evil snake."

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, remember what happened to your boyfriends-"

"Finish that sentence and I will exile you to Demonland." Sadie threatened.

Almost all the tourists were gone at this point when someone pushed past me and what was left of the crowd into the room. These people reminded me of a bunch of quarreling demigods. They way they causally threw around threats that it sounded like they actually knew were possible. And the way the conversations was so strange but they acted like it was normal. With the Mist incident I thought I might have found a bunch of rouge demigods. That is until the four person joined into the conversation.

"Oh hey-" The new voice that cut him off spoke rapid gibberish. I'm serious. It was like they were speaking Russian, I didn't recognize a single word. Only it felt different, powerful and vaguely familiar. Like I should recognize it.

"Can you repeat that? I didn't catch a wordm-" Nameless voice number two asked before getting promptly cut off. Didn't catch a worm is a weird thing to say though.

"Shut up!" Sadie roared. Then she switched to gibberish but it was a lot slower. I heard someone dialing a phone.

"Put it on speaker." Unnamed voice number one commanded.

"_Heya," _a peppy voice started out. I saw Silena flash before my eyes, it sounded exactly her. I could see her jumping up in down in front of me right now.

"Jaz-"

"_Wait Sadie? Why are-"_

"We've got a problem, someone's here in the museum."

"_Who's there?"_

"And old acquaintance."

"_Crap. Where's-"_

"No names, we're not sure if they're listening or not."

"-_Zippy?"_

"Its someone she used to know, she's not taking it too well."

"_I'm coming."_

"Wait that's what she was shouting in panic about?" The first voice asked.

"No duh brother dear, stay here we need to regroup and find her first."

"_So who's with you now?"_

"Its me, my idiot brother, and we've got Felix too. Zia and Walt are on the way, they're late just like you and the rooms should be clear now. I honest to goodness have no clue how we're going to find her."

"_Have you called-"_

"Excuse me but this area of the museum's not open to tourists right now." I spun around. There was this tall girl standing behind me, glaring at me. She looked really regal, with here head high in this 'I am better than you and I know it' kind of way. Just like Reyna. Only she looked kind of, well, Egyptian with her darker skin and Amber eyes. Not to mention the black hair that was pulled back in a pony tail.

"Exit's that way, do you need help finding your way out?" She asked in this sweet voice. It sounded like she thought I was five instead of sixteen.

"No, I just go turned around."

"You look a little sick to me, just _forget about this all, don't worry about it, _and go get a drink of water. Have a good day." Those words were compelling. It was like charm speak. Forget it all, forget it all. The words bounced around inside of my head. She winked at me and suddenly going to get a drink sounded like a great idea.

"Bye," I mumbled as I started to walk away. I frowned. Forget it all, no I need to remember. They were important. The conversation was too, what was it about? A girl, they called a girl. And they were worried about someone they used to know. No names, Sadie, Felix, Sadie's brother. They weren't normal. They were..._like me. _No they aren't, that's crazy. Demigods stay out of Brooklyn. _You're here. _I'm different. _They are too. _No, they were the museum personnel. And I got lost trying to move out of the Temple of Dendur room. Typical of me.

I'm supposed to meet a tour guide somewhere. I remember that. I should have asked the girl who told me the way out where the VIP tour would meet. Oh well I could always ask someone else. This felt wrong, there's something I'm missing. Something important. What is it? _Forget it all. _Lines of gibberish, familiar gibberish. No the language wasn't familiar, it was the voice. Who did it belong to? I hadn't heard it in a while but I remember it.

I shouldn't worry about it. _Don't worry, just forget. _Its simpler that way.

"Are you Percy?" I turned around. There was a tall lady with a slick black bun in a business suit. Her eyes shimmered like giant green orbs. I blinked and could have swore they had slits instead of pupils but then it was gone.

"I'm Kitty, I'm your tour guide. Ready for a crash course in Mythology?" she looked around and then leaned in. "But we both know you know almost as much as I know. I'm just here to give you some of the more carefully guarded details."

"Why?" I asked.

"Why? I don't know. I was instructed to, so here I am. Follow me please." She went back to the louder voice. Before we could move there was a thunder clap over head. All of the mortals froze as another followed. And then the lights went out. There was a general panic, screaming, people pushing past me toward the glowing exit signs. Parents shouting for their kids, a baby starts to cry, and I don't move. This happens pretty much wherever I go. A cold hand gripped my arm. Kitty's eyes were glowing the dark and her nails were way to sharp for a human.

An image appeared vaguely before us. Green around a fire. There's a crowd of kids. They're wearing armor and some are roasting marshmallows on their spears. I can't see any faces, its all to blurry. There's a blond girl with a laptop and a girl with blue hair. A smaller boy hiding toward the back of the crowd. There's a horse at the front, no not a horse. A centaur. Then a flaming haired girl next to him. She clutches her head and stumbles back a step. Green mist is surrounding her. Her face came more into focus. Rachel.

_Chaos is rising, lies have been told,_

_A new battle reveals enemies of old._

_The lost and the taken have now been returned, _

_And as they awakened new secrets were learned._

_Mistakes of the past are brought to light,_

_The heroes of fire hold the fate of the fight._

"This is bad," I say out loud and I flinch, waiting for Annabeth to smack me for that obvious comment. But she's in the image, she's one of the people who've sprung up around Rachel and are trying to get her to stop. The smoke thickens though, and the words don't stop.

_Chaos surgentem, mendacia Dictum._

Its and endless loop, the Oracle doesn't let her go. She rocks back and forth chanting those words over and over again. She switches languages again.

_Χάος αυξάνεται, τα ψέματα έχουν πει_

In the end its Octavian who manages to get her to calm down and to bring Rachel back. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when her eyes stop glowing and the smokes starts to dissipate.

"There's the end of the world prophecy, time to meet the enemy!" Kitty announces happily. "But nap time first, night night Greek." Before I can protest she whispers something and I feel really really sleepy. I have enough time to think 'boy am I screwed' before I pass out.

**AN: You probably all picked up on the fact that those other languages were Greek and Latin, I got the translation off Google Translate and I made up the prophecy myself so sorry if it's not that great.**

**Q: What is the name of Calypso's Island and what god visits Percy when he's there?**

**Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas. Please review :) that would be a wonderful Christmas present to give me. **


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi uhh remember me? Yeah I'm that author I hope you like who disappeared for like a month without any word what so ever. And I am so freaking sorry I left you all hanging. I'm not abandoning the book or anything I just had the single most hectic month of my life. I didn't have a single free day in all of January and I spent this past week settling down. I wanted to write but I never had any time. So now I'm bursting with ideas, words, and inspiration so chapters should fly out. I've got one already written and another one half done plus this update so I hope you guys will forgive me. Oh and Mira's PoV just kinda came to mind so I wrote for her. More Percy is coming up, promise.**

**Disclaimer: yeah I'm not Rick Riordan guys**

**gill m-so sorry again guys. The updates will come faster now that January is over.**

**Guest-yet again, sorry. Here's the update.**

**dustin leask-correct! You are one of two who got both right so kudos to you.**

**Guest-it will be finished, it might take a while but it will be finished.**

**Guest-just remember Mira's still about six months behind current time. I'll be skimming over months but there are some things that you have to see from her point of view. I'm sorry if its kinda long but my writing style is descriptive so I don't like to give short updates and I don't like to rush.**

**Amandla123-here you go **

**MysticLion-thanks who says Percy finds Brooklyn House? Why can't they find him? **

**PercyJackson the dragonborn****-****Yep the other one who got both correct. Kudos again!**

**PercyBromsson7-thank you for that terribly long review. I'll just say thanks for the advice and I'm glad you finally commented. Glad someone mentioned the prophecy it was fun to come up with **

**Shyer Ever Elizabeth-yep. But I would have rather had writers block and time to write than a million ideas and no time to write *cough*my January*cough* Thank you. Ogygia is correct.**

**Beaulover-no its actually Ogygia and Hepheastus. Thanks for responding though.**

Chapter 20~My Bad Day Comes to an End…I Think

Today had easily been the longest day of my life, in a bad way. You know where something's coming at the end of the day and you're dreading it, or something just made the day unbearably long. Mine wasn't over though. Just school was. I left the classroom every chance I got. I searched for refuge in the auditorium, in the woods behind the school, the library, the pavilion, and next to the artifact the Kanes snuck onto campus for portals. I just couldn't escape anything. I had to face this; there was nothing else I could do. If I didn't face it now I was going to get very paranoid.

It hadn't taken me long to reach the conclusion that if Christian was here monsters would come. It seemed earlier that they couldn't smell me anymore but I wasn't willing to take any more risks. If word got back to Olympus I was alive I'd probably have all of Camp Half Blood after me next time. Maybe even the Legion too. I can't see the two working together but Christian knows…probably. I can see Chiron and Lupa concocting some crazy story that both sides would believe as to where Christian's been and why he hasn't come to Camp Half Blood.

How did he end up here? Last I checked he was still in California. I know he'd been thinking about retiring from the Legion, actually he formally had but was still in New Rome pretty much every day. His mom lives in Manhattan, I remember that. Did he come to live with her? He loved the Legion, being a part of it, training with them, the glory and honor and everything. He was a Roman from head to toe. Why would he move across the country to be with his mom when he hadn't ever even visited that often before? I honest to goodness tried to forget all about him in the past month but I still remember things. Like him telling me he's visited his mom twice since he joined the Legion.

He knows it's dangerous. He's not a child of the Big Three but Apollo is still one of the twelve and Christian is pretty darn powerful when it comes to children of Apollo. If the monsters come after him I'm screwed. What if someone from the Legion comes to visit during a quest or to ask for his advice? I'm even more so screwed. Having Christian around is a dangerous situation for me. The two of us aren't going to be able to exist this close together, or at least in my mind we won't. One of us is leaving. If not him then it will have to be me.

I'm back at my locker right now. And he's there at the end of the hallway. I shut the blue metal door gently and start walking toward him. Every spare minute I've had today I've used to outline this conversation. I'm still not sure how to. There are two or three different approaches I've come up with. The direct, you leave or I will statement. Then there's me screaming insults at him for five minutes and then kicking his butt out of Brooklyn. And me actually putting effort into making this work out and trying not to be as cold and sarcastic as I'd like to me. I'd probably get to ask the most questions that way, come to a better understanding of everything I want to know about. Approach number three is my best bet but approach number two is tempting. I can't pretend that it would be easy though. Even with my secret weapon of magic Christian would be a fair fight. Just because he grew up with me and watched my fighting style as it developed. Just like I watched his fighting skills mature and heighten.

I don't have a lot of time, I told the Kanes I had to talk to my teachers about some special opportunities and stuff like that. It's pretty frequent at our school and it's a rather acceptable excuse. Jaz might have doubted it but she gave me the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure Carter was suspicious but he decided to let me deal with this on my own. I think I owe him the truth tonight. Maybe he can help me puzzle some things out. Like how can a Greek/Roman born and raised girl be able to use Egyptian magic? And be rather exceptional at it if I do say so myself? Why have the monsters stopped chasing me? Can I ever be safe with them?

Carter needs to know about it though. He'll find out soon if I don't tell and maybe if I tell him we can trust each other more and work it out somewhat together. I'm not sure if I can trust them though. My hearts screaming that they're my friends of course I can trust them. And then I stop and think for a moment. Just back a month ago, before my world was turned around. I can't take that again. If I lose the Kanes I lose all I have left. I don't think I can risk that but. But can I afford to not risk it? Are they my friends? Do I trust them? I don't think I do. They're more like roommates to me. Sadie's kind of a mentor. I might dare to call Jaz an acquaintance.

Maybe that's for the better. My definition of a friend isn't very high right now.

I adjust my coat so that the straps of my back pack don't dig into my shoulders as much. I don't have that much homework but all I do have involves my heaviest text books. Still my back pack isn't bugging me that much, I have a feeling I'm just trying to stall. I'm being cowardly, it's disgusting me. I have to face this straight up. I glance at Christian as I pass him. He follows me silently outside and I lead him off the path onto the lawn. When I feel out of sight from all of the buildings I stop under a lightly snow dusted tree.

We both take a second to look each other over. I shift so that my body language is as neutral as I can get it. I clear my face of emotion and blink slowly at him. His position is more caution oriented. He's not sure if this is safe, or he's not sure what to think of it. He wants to be ready because he's not sure what I'm going to do. I want this to go smoothly with honest answers but I also want to be able to relax during this.

"Truce," I declare. It's not an offer or a question. It's a statement that I made without consulting him. He shifts around a bit more. He's probably moving his hidden weapons around so that I won't be able to spot them so easily. He listens though and that's what I'm proud of. I've got the first advantage in this discussion, he still listens to me, doesn't challenge my commands. That's a mindset he should have changed by now but if not then that's his problem.

I've made my choice. I'm going to tell it to him straight out. "I'm staying here. I was here first and this is where all my remaining friends are. I ran once and I hated it. So if you have a problem with me being here deal with it on your own. Leave me alone and make sure you're Legion friends, excuse me, comrades stay away. Anything or one, Greek or Roman that shows up and threatens my mortal life is going to have some memory issues and more than a couple injuries."

I try not blink in surprise. That's not what I planned to say. But that is what I wanted to say. I don't want to lose all I have left. I'm not going to leave. I was here first. I've run from him once before and by the worst luck in the world he found me. I'm not going to run again. This time I'm going to demand that he faces me like a Roman and if we do fight I'll enjoy kicking his butt.

I stare up at him but I feel taller. I feel like I'm staring down at him. I'm the one in charge, daring him to go against me. He won't leave though, that wouldn't be very Roman of him. He'll stay, and I'll ignore him. Maybe time will turn him from an enemy to a stranger. I don't think I'll ever be able to let him past that stage if I even find it in my heart to forget. But now I don't want to forget. As much as it hurts to remember that they turned on me so suddenly and fully it makes me want to remember and return the favor someday.

Revenge, that's what those memories make me want. I feel it from deep within. As I stare at Christian it starts to grow within me. If emotions were colors I'd be a seething red from the tips of my fingers to the depths of my heart. I'm sure he can see it clearly in my eyes. And I start to see it reflected in his.

And then it disappears. He steps back and looks down. I've won; the anger dissipates as suddenly as it rose up. I can feel it deep within. I suddenly realize how badly that could have turned out. Sadie told me a story about how a verbal argument with Carter made her birthday cake explode once. Magician's emotions can influence their magic to a point where they totally lose control and just let out a massive energy burst.

Something tells me it would have been alright to let it out on an enemy. _That's what it's for_, the voice whispers. I blink and feel like I'm coming out of a trance. I almost released uncontrolled magic on campus in front of someone who's ignorant of the House of Life. I'm going crazy. And I heard a voice in my head. I feel a pit in my stomach. I need to talk to Carter or someone now. I'm sure hearing voices are especially bad for a magician. I think Jaz told me why but I don't remember.

"I'll leave you be but I'm staying." He starts to say something else but cuts himself off.

"That's all I needed to confirm." I tell him coldly as I turn to leave. Even though I had answers I wanted from him. That would have kept me wondering though. I have to move on and that means leaving the past in the past. Besides I don't owe him answers and I certainly don't trust him with my secrets anymore.

I keep my shoulders back and my head up all the way to the main street. I don't break out into a sprint back to Brooklyn House though I'd love to. Call me paranoid but I take a very roundabout way just to make sure Christian doesn't follow me home. I'm making it very clear I don't want him to have anything to do with me. The instant I'm inside the warehouse I sped up though. The elevator doesn't move fast enough for me.

I stop just before I go inside Brooklyn House though. If I run in in a panic everyone is going to ask questions. Questions I probably don't want to answer. I'm going to have to act normal until I find Carter. I've decided Carter is my best option. Sadie's mouth and her closeness to Walt make it too risky to tell her. Jaz doesn't have the firsthand experience I want. I don't know Zia so if I tell her she'll probably ask Carter what to ask. Walt isn't an option. I can't risk Anubis recognizing my past. Plus guys can be kind of oblivious sometimes so maybe Carter won't really think to be suspicious of me.

Five flights of stairs later I knock on his door. "Come in!" He hollers. I open is and shut it softly behind me. Yeah I know I'm supposed to leave the door open if there's a boy and a girl in the room but I don't think anyone's going to notice and I can guarantee nothing's going to happen.

"Carter. This is going to be a strange question but do magicians ever hear voices in their heads?" He was sitting his desk with his back to me, probably doing homework. He spun around in his chair, his brown eyes wide in shock.

"Are you hearing abnormal voices?" I nod.

"I just heard it once today. But it didn't sound like me at all. And it was different; I don't think I could have made it up on my own."

"That's not supposed to happen anymore Mira, it's impossible right now."

"Does it mean something important?" He hesitates. I frown and try to decipher his expression; I think he's trying to stall a little bit. He's thinking over what he's going to tell me.

"In the past it meant a god is trying to talk to you, which was dangerous about a year ago. But the House of Life is more acceptant of the gods now days. But the gods were distanced after the war. You can't be talking to one because the balance has been upset. They can't contact us."

This doesn't make sense. I mean it sure sounded like another person in my head. But if they contact us then who was it? And why contact me? I've got an Olympian origin. They should know that. Are they trying to talk me into getting back at Olympus? That would explain the whole revenge feeling earlier. I can't assume it's a god though, Carter just told me it was impossible. I should just ignore that.

"I'm going crazy." I state out loud as I push my hair back from my face and clutch my head. My hands are kind of cold.

"You're probably just nervous or paranoid. That guy who transferred in, I know he was one of them there."

My hands drop and I sit down on the floor. I have a feeling I'll be here for a while. "Yeah," I tell him waiting for the inevitable questions.

"Is he dangerous?"

"He's very dangerous. But he doesn't know about Egyptians and I already got him to swear he won't let anyone know I'm still alive in any way, shape, or form. If he does try to tell he'll die first. You and I could beat him together. I'm not sure how just you alone would do but you'd definitely have an advantage with magic."

"I thought you said some of your old family members had gifts?"

"He's got almost perfect aim within a certain range." I shrug as if it's no big deal but I know I'm not telling Carter about other things that I should. I can't tell him tonight. _Wait, the time will come._ Oh gosh no, no, no, no! Leave me be abnormal voice! _It would cause Chaos beyond measure if the secret was revealed today._

"Are you sure we shouldn't just capture him now and have Sadie put a spell on his memory or something?"

"Really I have no clue. I mean it was dumb luck that he came here and I don't know his motive or anything. What do you want to do? Meditate on the question?"

"Well…just promise if he does anything worthy of a butt kicking you'll let me double team him with you."

I give Carter a small grin. "Promise."

Q: What archeologist was Carter named for?


	21. Chapter 21

Guest-yeppers catch up soon :)

Guest-correct a mundo!

Shyer Elizabeth-duh. I shall be indulging my imaginative girly brain in just a few chapters...after all we've got a shattered romance between Percy and Annabeth, a Leo who bumped into a girl he's really got stuck in his head, and of course Mira and Christian in like the awkwardest position ever. And there are sooooo many other couples for me to meddle with...mwhahaha. Its actually Howard Carter but close!

Guest-correct!

Shalalalalalala-okie dokie, can do.

Kylaandfun-yesh, his name is Howard Carter

Yolcholl-soon soooooo soon, promise. I've got a plot line to tie with Mira and then there shall be an epic confrontation scene...or at least I'll try to make it epic

Amandla123-correct! A lot of people got it right this time :)

Chapter 21 I Get a Crash Course in Ancient History from a Crazy Cat Lady

I blink and search my mind. It's surprisingly blank. Annabeth would tell me it's always like that. This time though it's truly blank. I don't remember where I was or what I was doing. I know my name. Percy Jackson. There was something important I was doing, or I just did. Its starting to come back to me slowly now. I'm a hero, and I was searching for someone...my little sister. No I wasn't looking for her...I was looking for the location of her final stand. Her grave.

I was in Brooklyn, I went to the Met. There's a blank spot there. _Just forget_. That's all I have, I know something must have been there. I move on past it and remember the prophecy and then I fell asleep again I think. I'm not for sure. This feels kinda like my demigod dreams when something important is going to happen or I'm gonna see something I shouldn't.

_Hero, you missed much while you slept. Though I have tried to return the memories to you Hera's influence has kept a few at bay still. The remainder is vital to the balance. Observe but do not act, it will not make a difference. Your mind will be clouded as long as you are in Manhattan. There are boundaries that cannot be crossed. Myths do not mix well._

Before I could ask why Brooklyn made the difference I was swept away by a rush of lights in the dark. When I stopped spinning I felt odd. I was weightless and floating in what appeared to be space. There was a window beneath me though. There was color and light inside. People too, I sort of floated toward it. I was like an invisible person observing the scene. I wasn't sure if it was a memory or if this was broadcasting live.

_I was in a desert, floating over it. There was a blue ribbon edged with green that wound through it. It was a river. The earth shifted and I saw the face of a man smiling up at the sky. The stars swirled and there was a lady smiling back._

_Then there was the sun rising bright in the east over the river. It had the outline of a boat in it though and a man standing at the bow who seemed to be radiating light and heat himself. The lady of stars whispered something as he climbed higher and the sun man responded. I had no clue what he said though._

_The sky rearranged and I realized the lady was frowning now, like she was sad. The earth man frowned too. The sun boat sped across the sky and then back down again in the west. The moon came out this night and it had the face of a man. He talked to the sky lady and she talked to him for several nights that sped by in seconds._

_The sun man talked to the sky lady the next day and he looked like he was shouting. His light was harshly bright and then he shook something like a scepter at her and a gust of wind came and blew the face of the earth man away. The lady was sad again but there were people up in the stars with her. They went with the sun man on the boat though._

_Days sped by with the sun man going in circles around the desert. Time seemed to fly and then one day the sun man looked dimmer. He was even dimmer the next day and the day after. That day something pulled me after the boat and I hovered above the deck as it plunged into a dark hole in the river. We entered this misty black place. The boat was still on a river but I didn't feel at home like I normally do around water._

_The sun man was on fire. Literally he was sitting in a chair made of flames. He looked like a withered old man now. His back was bent and his eyes were lined with some black stuff but his eye lids dropped. Those strange two scepters were clasped across his chest. He wore lots of jewlry and white robes. _

_A woman stood next to him with colored bird wings attached to her back. She also wore a white dress and lots of gold jewlry but she didn't have scepters. She also wore the dark eye make up and little gold chains in her hair. I'd say she looked pretty but her smile was fake and her eyes were harsh and glaring with a cunning behind them._

_The two talked and the man laughed at her. I think they made a deal and then the lady made him all better but he stopped glowing. He stood up and put the scepters on the throne and then disappeared with a flash. It was dark all around and I felt the rush as I was taken to a new place._

_The images came faster now. There was a palace filled with happy people and dancing animals. Some were half human half animals like the minotaur. Then a red man stepped forward and offered the blue man on the throne the gift of a coffin. The blue king actually got in the coffin and was sealed in there. The coffin then disappeared into the floor. I shook my head. As a demigod I know that you avoid all death traps, especially ones disguised as coffins._

_The lady with the colored bird wings was there and she was pregnant. She ran from the red man to stepped up to claim the throne. She turned into a bird and the red man would have gone after her but some one else stopped him._

_I followed the bird lady to a small hut on the Nile. She had her child and he grew up. They found the coffin with the blue man in it. I noticed now that the coffin wasn't ordinary. It had a person modeled and painted on the exteiror. The red man appeared in front of the bird wing lady and blew up the coffin._

_The boy wanted to fight him but his mother pulled him away. They turned into birds and fled again. I watched the bird boy grow up and learn how to fight. His mother find the pieces of the coffin with her husband. The images sped up even more and blurred together. I saw a war, the lady almost lost her head and the boy lost and eye. The red man was over thrown. The blue man became a zombie king I think. The bird boy became king too of a that shimmery palace that seemed out of this world._

_Then came the people in the desert. The people becamed smarter and built buildings and pyramids. They had magicians and warriors. On occasion the bird boy came down and almost inhabbited one of the people like a ghost would posses someone. You could see both people at once, it was strange._

_Then there was a war. Flashes of blood and screams. An army in shinning armor with an eagle held high. The magicians were scattered, the warriors fled, and the civilization fell to the eagle. The sky palace flashed before my eyes and it was empty now. The bird boy king was gone, his mother, the animal people. It was all gone. There was even a glimpse of the blue zombie king's empty palace._

_I flew across the land to an empire with famliar statues. I understood their words and watched their time fly by. I was in the original Rome. Their empire was long but it still was over faster than the desert people. I saw the Legion go under ground, I saw Olympus move from city to city. And then it jumped across the Atlantic. _

_America's history was short. Just a few seconds and I was caught up to present day. Pictures flash through my mind. I see me, Annabeth, Grover, Luke, Clarisse, Zoe, Bianca, Thalia, Nico, Silena, Charles, and several other demigods. They form a wall of pictures and spin around me._

_Jason, Reyna, Dakota, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Piper, Tyson, and Ella all join the spinning wall. Then a boy with dark skin and curly hair. A man who looked like an older version of him. A blond and red haired girl with a fierce glare. A lady with cat eyes. A short ugly man. A ghost lady then a boy who reminded me of Nico only older. The blue skinned zombie king then the red man. The bird winged lady and her son. An old man who burst into flames and was replaced by a dark haired girl with wide amber eyes. Then the pictures start to overlap. The bird boy fades into the curly haired one. The grown up Nico becomes this tough looking guy. The bird lady melts into the image of the red and blond haired girl._

_The sun man becomes a girl with short black hair, then they split again. The girl disappears and the sun man's image fades but you can still see the light radiating from his silhouette. Someone new steps up to fill the dark spot and before I can see their face the image is gone_

_The pictures continue to do this and leave my head spinning. Who are they? Where are they from? Why do they matter?_

"Ugh," I groan as I wake up. I feel like I just landed after the fall into Tartarus. I was sore and disoriented which is not a good way to wake up. Especially when you're in a car with a strange lady. I tried to unbuckle the seat belt but she reached out with one hand and brushed my hand away.

"My driving is spectacular but you need to stay in the car. We're almost in Manhattan. I'll leave you at the boundary but that's as far as I'll go." I recognized her as the lady from the museum now. I was in the passenger seat of a top up Lexus convertible.

I looked out the window and had to look away fast. The moving of the car really didn't help my dizziness. "I can't go back to Manhattan. I'll forget." I say confidently. I have no clue what all those pictures and images were for but I'm betting they were important. It was like a history before the gods.

"I was told to see you to the border, so I will." She turned to face me for a moment. "I will drag you there and leave you there if I have to." Her eyes gleamed and then the pupils transformed into slits.

I blinked dumbly and then said, "You're the cat lady." She purred as she turned back to the road. "Who's your parent?...I don't know a cat goddess."

"Oh you poor young confused demigod. You think I'm like you, don't you?"

"Not anymore." I answered cautiously. She flashed me a grin with unusually pointy teeth for a human.

"I won't hurt you kitten...or at least not now. I was told to see you safely back to your territory. I don't make any promises for the future though. I know what you've done."

"Yeah I've flunked out of about nine schools." I told her with a grin.

"You've killed a lion. A big cat, they're beautiful but kinda stuck up. Still they're cats. And the Nemean Lion is rare. I don't like cat murders...even if it was a foreign cat." I have officially decided she's not just a cat lady. She is a certifiably crazy cat lady. Which is worse than an ordinary cat lady.

I gulp really loudly and reach for Riptide. I was suddenly getting a very bad feeling about this. Like a bottomless pit in my stomach and a cold sweat kinda bad. "Who are you?"

"You don't need to know that now Greek. In fact I'm not sure why you need to know anything...balance and peace. Hmmff when I run out of lives there'll be peace."

"There's going to be another war?" I ask in dread. And I'm in the car with a stranger who's probably an enemy. Riptide's not in my pocket. I try not to panic.

"I can almost guarantee that kitten. Shame you only finished with your last one two or three weeks ago." The dread inside of me doubles in size.

"I just got back two days ago." The crazy cat lady flashes me another grin and shakes her head.

"Poor kitten you've had your eyes shut for too long. And there's the bridge. You can find you're way back if I drop you at right about here right? I hate Manhattan...Manhattan hates me too."

"How long did you put me to sleep for?" I ask in shock.

"Only a few seconds actually but the magic over loaded your brain and you're mind didn't exactly comprehend the memories you were shown of the past so you were out for a while. He should have seen it coming though, I mean mixing our history and magic into your brain? Too bad Hera's spell didn't work because nine months was plenty of time for them to soak in but trying to bring them all back in two weeks...I'm surprised you can think straight. I'll be impressed if you can walk in a straight line."

"Okay I take it your not Greek." She snorts at me.

"See, you're brain is running undeniably slow." The crazy cat lady shakes her head and her bun is so tight that it doesn't even move. She turns a quick right and I slam into the side of the car.

"The memories are gonna disappear in Manhattan though? So why bring them back to lose them again?" That doesn't make much sense to me but I hope she'll answer the question anyways.

"More like they'll become muddled. Unclear, opaque if that word is in your vocabulary. When you need them you'll get a reminder and they'll come back. So I've been told. The reminder will be obvious, no worries about that. And here we go."

She stops suddenly and I realize we're at the shore. I can seen Manhattan just across the river. "Get out before I get attacked demigod, I don't have all day. In fact I've got like thirty seconds to get away from here. Oh Ra why did I agree to this?" She shoos me out of the car and tosses Riptide out the window at me. "Go on you're going to be late! You don't want to miss anymore. As wonderful as long naps are there are somethings that are just more important...unfortunately." Her eyes glint as she shifts into reverse and pulls away from the shore with a screech.

"I'll be seeing you soon kitten!" She calls out the window with a laugh. I shudder and resolve to get as far away from her as possible. Just in case she turns around and comes back. I add the crazy cat lady under the minotaur on my list of half human people I don't want to run into again. Octavian is first on the list.

I know she told me I'm missing something. But I came to Brooklyn to find whats left of Mira, and I'm going to find her before I leave. Maybe I can somehow connect with her ghost. I just want to tell her I'm sorry I wasn't around to protect her. I catch a glimpse of something across the river. Monsters, and a few people I think. I feel my eyes narrow at them, I can see the fire that singles out Leo. A figure that drops to the ground, Jason.

I'm ready to turn my back on them, they don't need help. Something tells me to watch a little longer though. Its a little nudge in the back of my head that cries for help and it starts to grow louder as a few more figures appear and sit down. Then one comes running in. I feel fear and desperation. Its Grover. I need to help him, I can feel that through our bond. I jump into the river and swim as fast as I can.

**AN: We're starting to build up towards the end peoples! Keep reading and please keep reviewing. Thank you :)**

**Q: What is the name of Osiris's symbol? (Its the amulet the Kane's parents give them)**

**Last Two Paragraphs Edited 4/22/13**


	22. Chapter 22

Anonymous-yeppers! Bonus points for the spine answer and I would spell it for you but I would probably spell it wrong so we'll just count that answer as correct.

kwcupcake2000-update has arrive. And yah, another fan of my OCs. Yes that was him, not Jason

Shyer Elizabeth-oh we'll get back to them soon but I'm gonna give you a nice little bit of drama at the end of this chapter ;) read fast

kylaandfun-awesome quote right?

Mrmngrl101-that would be the ankh, nice guess though.

. -correct. Oh them, they're at the beginning of this chapter, exactly where they should be. And it was kinda anti-climatic but Percy was uh...well spoilers. Just read. He had to get back to Manhattan, I'll let you discover why.

shalalalalalala-oh Mira and Percy. The sweet older brother searching for his little sister. Fate is cruel, but on the bright side there is something you should enjoy very much in this chapter. *hint* read *hint*

Chapter 22~Monsters...Why are There Always Monsters?

Leo PoV (Shortly before Ch. 21)

"Sparky, you know you're getting really close to the boundary?" I asked slash informed him over the radio system we'd temporarily established. I was chilling on a park bench with some of Dakota's extra sugar Kool-Aid and my tricked out lap top. It showed several screens with little symbols on them. I was staring at the lightening bolt, which was Jason. My DPS (demigod positing system) showed him barely a block from the river.

We'd been searching Manhattan high and low for Percy but we hadn't found a trace of him. A depressed Annabeth, Nico, Grover, and Thalia came back from his mom's house almost two weeks ago with no news of where he'd gone. Annabeth told everyone about how she heard Lord Poseidon whisper to himself about someone's scent or something in the house that shouldn't have been there. Which is why, Annabeth reasoned, it was logical to search for Percy. Because he might be in trouble. Or she was just really worried sick about him and slightly heart broken. I thought it was a fifty-fifty.

"I know Leo." I sighed and shook my head.

"How many times to I have to tell you, its Hot Shot when we're in the field. Secret agent names is part of the fun." I think I heard Thalia's mental retort of 'grow up'. I shift my laptop on my lap and reach up to readjust my ear piece. I made some modifications to some old Blue Tooths I found in the Bunker. I tried to make them more 'demigod friendly' and less 'demigod food to go beacon'.

I crack my knuckles and then decide to stand up and stretch my legs again. Sitting on a park bench for almost half a day isn't fun for an extremely ADHD kid. I wish I could have been out and about, even walking is better than sitting. But Annabeth is the only other person who could coordinate with all the technical skills it requires and she is even worse than me. She's always looking around, here, there, back, and forth, desperately looking for a sign of Percy. I take a quick lap around the old wooden park bench and then sit back down. I scoot over a little so I'm in the shade of the green leafy tree behind the bench. That's pretty much all there is in the park, trees, splintery benches, a path, and grass. Boring.

I check over the screens again and highlight a block of the map. "Hey Beauty Queen, the block on you're left hasn't been checked today."

"Got it," Piper replies. Her little mirror icon on my screen changes direction. I'm the search coordinator and I've been taking my job very seriously...well ever since I got back from Brooklyn that is. But hey, even hero's need time to relax and socialize.

"Leo," I snap back to reality and clear my throat. "Fine, Hot Shot, any other blocks we haven't checked today?" I quickly scan my map. Piper was in the only block we hadn't checked today. We'd probably met up and head back to Camp with another day of no Percy soon.

A beeping noise drew my attention to another tab on the screen. I click over into it and frown. My eyes widen and I jump up. Quickly I grab my laptop. "Guys we've got monsters in bound," I inform the search team.

"Yeah...about that...I kinda already ran into three and I'm battling them now." Oh Jason, you and your stupid Roman 'I can handle it myself' attitude.

"I'll be there in a second," Thalia promise over the radio.

"Everyone rendezvous where Jason is now. If they know we're here then we need to stick together and fight as one big group to get back to Camp." Annabeth commands. "Leo where is he exactly?" I didn't even bother to ask for her to use my code name. She was using her no nonsense leader voice. It actually has emotion in it unlike the monotone she's been using since Percy left.

I open my laptop again quickly, managing to walk and hold it at the same time. "Alrighty Annabeth go two blocks north then go three west. Piper you go a block south and then a block east. Thalia two blocks straight north. Grover just keep running, uh trotting on the road you're on until you see Jason. Nico, if you actually bother to walk instead of teleport you're gonna go two blocks east and then three south. Jason, just keep doing what you're doing."

Thats my group. Reyna's running the search effort on the other side of Manhattan and the Hunters are actually combing parts of Manhattan as well. Several other campers want to help and Malcolm is organizing a fourth search party. Percy's popularity is impressive. Reyna's group is all Roman and they barely even knew him.

I follow the little lightening bolt on my screen that's Jason's position. It feels so good to be moving, I can't wait to kick some monster butt. I duck into an alley and cut across a deserted lot to a fight that's going taking place on the other side. Dry grass crackles beneath my feet and a rusty broken metal fence surrounds the lot. There's not a mortal soul in sight. I see a flash of gold and then a ball of acid lands five feet in front of me.

"Leo! I could use some fire power."

Jason was fighting off three hyrda heads with his sword while trying not to slice them off to create any more. He jumps into the air and spins out of the way as the hydra spits again. Hydras are my kinda monsters, they're totally not fire proof which makes me even more of a heavy hitter than Jason. I crack my knuckles and grin like a manic.

"Leo has arrived, hydra prepare to face my fire!" My hands are consumed my identical balls of brightly colored flames. I concentrate and they glow even brighter and hotter but that doesn't bother me. I sprint toward the hydra, not trusting my aim till I'm a little closer.

Jason slashes at a head to try and force it back but he ends up slicing it off. Four heads, no problemo for a boy who's got as much fire power as the Human Torch.

"Leo!" I stop and turn toward Annabeth who's climbing part of the fence. She drops to the ground and tightens her curly blond ponytail. Beads of sweat cover her forehead and her clothes are slightly dirty. "You can't hit it with fire until we're somewhere that won't catch fire."

"One direct hit chica, close range no fly away sparks." I tell her. She still shakes her head.

"Jason, lead it toward the river. Follow," she tells me and turns to convey the change in plans via radio to the other search team members. Jason soars up shouting insults and the hydra rushes after him. Of course, they leave me to climb the fence and run after.

I slide to a stop when the hydra crashes through a crumbling old building in front of me. I cough as dust rises up around me and survey the rubble, no way can I run through old bricks, circuits, pipes, and broken furniture. I dash around the block and make it to the river in a minute. Jason's barely dodging the hydra now since he's getting worn down. We're on an old cracked sidewalk with a railing. On the other side of the railing it drops down to the river. I stand directly behind it so that when I blast it with a fireball it will sail out into the river.

"Hey ugly, I heard you don't like fire." I blink and feel the flames rise up around my body. Its a sensation I can't really describe, its like an adrenaline rush that's hot and a thousand times more powerful. I jerk my hands out and the fire shoots straight out of my palms and hits the hydra with the force of a bullet. It staggers back a step and then explodes into yellow monster dust. Jason lands a few feet away from me, his legs shaking. He stumbles over to me and we fist bump.

"Perfect timing Leo, I don't think I could have stayed in the air any longer." Jason gives me a week smile.

"I don't think you're going to stay on you're feet much longer." I tell him skeptically. We laugh together and then Jason decides to sit down in the middle of the abandoned sidewalk. Having nothing better to do, I join him.

"Jason!" Piper shouts as she rounds the corner. "Leo," she adds as she runs up to us. There's a slash across the right knee of her jeans that wasn't there this morning. Jason notices too and frowns. "I kinda ran into a demon cheerleader." She confesses. "Charm speak doesn't work very well on them but daggers do." Piper sits next to Jason.

"That's not good," I tell her with a frown. "How many were there before the hydra?" I ask Jason.

"Two, and one this morning." He shrugs.

"And I just ditched one more," Thalia adds as she strolls up and sits across from our threesome on the concrete. She glances out at the river slowly. "They're picking up on our scents." I nod and we both know what has to be said next

"What's up with the silent meeting in the middle of nowhere," Nico asks as he walks up behind Thalia and sits next to her. There's a light coat of yellow powder in his black hair, a tell tale sign of a fight with a monster.

"We're obviously practicing how to be dark and gloomy like you." Thalia tells him sarcastically. She doesn't grin though, her face remains blank. That's the general expression people in our group wear. We're worn out, tired, and worried but we won't give up.

We hear a bleat of distress and all of our heads snap to a rapidly approaching Grover. "Hell hounds!" He warns as he stumbles to a stop in front of our circle. Thalia has an arrow notched before she's even on her feet. Jason jumps up like there's springs under him while Piper and I slowly get to our feet.

I adjust my tool belt and dramatically throw my hands out while lighting them on fire. I'm sure someone behind me rolled their eyes. Annabeth appears on my right, a baseball cap in hand. I stare at her in shock for a moment before remember she has that invisible cap thingy that lost its magic for a while.

Three large, angry looking black rhino dogs come charing around the corner. They sniff and then bark at us. Our group spreads out into a sloppy line, facing the hell hounds.

"Okay Jason and Piper take the one on the right. Thalia and Leo, one on the left. Grover, Nico, and I will get the one in the center." There's a moment of silence while everyone processes that. There's a roaring behind us but none of us can spin around fast enough to see it before it hits.

A huge wave arcs over our heads and crashes into the hellhounds, drowning them. We're in an underwater dome for a second and the the water all crashes to the ground and pulls the monsters dust back into the river with it. Along with the water a guy falls to the ground, landing in a crouch and standing with a confident air.

"Percy!" Grover cries. He turns around at the sound of his name and sure enough its him. Sea green eyes and a face that looks like its meant to wear a smile. Percy looks them over and then turns his back with an emotionless face.

Before any of us can say anything else there's a roar from down the alley. A strange beast comes charging out along with a sphinx that has some crazy eyeliner. With them comes a few massive crocodiles.

"Not these again," Thalia groans aloud. She loads her bow again and shoots while Percy charges. The search party all looks at each other and then we run after him too. He heads for the crocs, Annabeth and Jason follow to help him. Grover, Piper, Nico and I face the sphinx. I blast it with a handful of fire that doesn't do any damage. Nico appears behind it and swings his sword at its neck but it barely makes a dent.

"Its made of stone," he yells to us and the sphinx turns to face him.

"Hey sphinx, you want to leave us alone. You really feel like, uh flying off and hunting someone else. Just fly home and leave us alone and that way no one gets killed." I give Piper a look that says 'really?'

"I don't know what sphinxes do!" She hisses back. The sphinx blinks and then makes this weird growly noise.

"I think its laughing at you Piper." I tell her with a smirk.

"Act your age Valdez and find a way to kill it!" Thalia shouts from somewhere behind us as a silver arrow bounces off the stone sphinx. Its eyes turn to focus on her and then back to Piper. It lunges and we all duck to the side.

I get back to my feet just in time to see the reinforcements arrive. Their reinforcements unfortunately. Another one of those gruesome creatures that I can't even describe, a massive spider, and another hydra. The skeletons arrive a moment later.

"Nico!" Thalia screams.

"On it!" He promises as he ducks a slash from the sphinx and runs to intercept the skeletons. "Grover help Thalia, make sure that thing doesn't get near Annabeth." The satyr nods and chases after Thalia whose keeping the spider distracted. She leads it down an alley away from the crocodiles and Annabeth. The last I see of her is a flash of blue and black hair and a silver jacket. Piper's trying to help Nico with the skeletons.

The unnamed creature hisses and snaps at me and then runs away. I decide to leave it and focus on the new hydra, which lucky for me has only one head. It spits acid and I jump away. I'm waiting for it to opens its mouth so I can roast it from the inside out but before that happens I get interrupted.

"The other thing is heading for the Brooklyn Bridge, its causing lots of panic." Jason warns. He's up in the air staring at a point just a few blocks up river. Dang that creature moves fast. He has to fly away and dodge the hydra which has turned its attention to him.

I'm the only one not engaged in a fight now. Percy catches my eye and mouths 'go'. I take off at a sprint after the monster. Its not hard to know which way it went. It wrecked cars and tore up asphalt. I even come across a bent street light. It tore through neighbor hoods without a care. There's a broken fire hydrant on my right that's spewing water.

The bridge looms in front of me. Its crowded with cars and screaming people now. They all get out and run to get off it. I see the creature in the middle of the bridge, flinging empty cars into the East River.

"I'm crazy," I tell myself aloud as I push past the screaming crowd and literally fight my way up stream. I get about three steps forward before I get pushed back one. Its slow going but as I get closer the crowd gets thinner. They aren't crazy, they knew to get the heck out of here. No one's paid me any attention, you think at least one person would be like 'hey kid why you going the wrong way?' but nope. They just ignore me.

Ten steps later and I'm all alone now. The crowd and their screams and frantic pushing is all behind me. The creature has its back to me but then it whirls around and throughs the crushed black BMW in its jaw at me. I hit the deck and manage to throw one fistful of fire before I have to duck another car. A red mustang this time.

I jump behind the wreckage of a bus and take a breath. I'm gonna run out there and hit it with all I can. Or better yet, I can try that gas trick again. I make sure my hands still aren't on fire and then I reach down into my tool belt.

I peek out from behind the bus. My brilliant plan gets interrupted by the arrival of some new people.

I frown and watch as more teenagers run up from the Brooklyn side of the bridge. Now there's five of them. A boy who looks kinda like me with curly hair, a girl with blond and red hair plus some combat boots, a girl with short black hair, and then a big buff African American guy. I see one more person behind the guys but I can't make out their face.

They must be insane to head out onto a broken bridge. I'm not one to talk though. The monster's head leans over the bus and I blast fire straight up into it's ugly face. It roars and stumbles back a few steps. I run to a truck laying on its side a few feet to my left. Just in time too because the creature smashes the bus. Dang it has anger issues. I've lost sight of the other teens in the past few seconds but who can blame me. Monster fighting requires a lot of concentration and I don't have that much to begin with.

"Take cover guys, I've got this!" A girl shouts. I stick my head up over the edge of the truck bed in time to see the teens scatter for cars. One heads my way and I quickly duck back under to avoid being seen.

A figure vaults the truck bed and crouches next to me. We both look at each other in shock. I open my mouth but my words are drowned out by a shout of, "Hades!" or something like that. An explosion rips through the already damaged area around us and I get knocked off my knees and onto my butt. My ears ring for a good ten seconds while the world spins. It takes a minute before I groan, sit up, and stare at the girl again. She's barely sitting back up too and clutching her head with a grimace.

She's dressed in slightly dirtied white pjs. Almost like karate clothes and she even has a white belt tied around her waist. Her blond hair is pulled back away from her face in a single lose ponytail. Her blue eyes meet mine.

"Jaz?" I ask at the same time as she says,

"Leo?"

**Q: What are the two Egyptian blood lines that the Kanes combine? Bonus points if you specify which is from their mom and which is from their dad.**

**AN: These next few chapters will be very very fun to write *evil author laugh* keep reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

Guest-update has arrived

Guest-sweet thanks!

Katchthemoll-welcome :)

Kim-more chapters on the way. Mira and Percy shall meet again...after a while promise

Shyer Elizabeth-I love writing Leo, he's so much fun. You're welcome :) You'll like this chapter then.

e.b-thank you, next chapter is here

Irisgoddess-correct!

RTRfootball-yeppers

pinkiepie0706-also correct!

KanjiofRai-*evil author laugh* believe me I'm working on his rant

Shalalalalalala-more has arrived.

**I'm gonna tell you in advance this is you to show you how Mira's life is going and how her...awkward position with Christian a school and trying to hide the magicians from him and him from all the magicians but Carter. In addition to her still coping from the whole chase and fake death thing. **

Chapter 23~If Only They Knew

Mid-March Mira PoV

"Hey girls head out to the bus. I'm gonna make sure Zippy didn't break her ankle and we'll be out in a little bit." The girls basketball team shouted responses to our coaches command. Gym bags were slung out shoulders and high fives were passed around as all of the team filed out of the locker room. Except for me. I sat there on the tiled bench that went around three walls in fronts of the metal lockers that were stacked three high. Its black tile with bright red lockers. The wall opposite me doesn't have a bench on it, it has a white board and two doors. One leads to shower and toilets while the other leads out to the hallway. The white board has 'x's and 'o's with arrows all over it. I can name all the plays drawn up there in black Expo marker.

The door shuts behind Cadence, the last girl out, and I look at my coach briefly. He's around fifty years old with gray hair and wrinkles. His eyes are brown and have a firm edge to them. He stands in front of me and looks me over with an expressionless face. I feel dread in my stomach all of a sudden and look away. I distract myself by unlacing my blue basketball shoes. I start with my left foot. I bend over to untie the laces.

"What's wrong Mira?"

"Nothing," I tell him as innocently as I can. He has no clue what the answer to that question really is. I glance over at his shiny black shoes and khaki pants. He's wearing a blue collared shirt that says Lady Falcons Basketball on the pocket. I slide my black knee pads down off my knees and run my fingers over the impressions they left on my skin. Its a spider's web of thin little red lines.

"That's a lie if I ever heard one." I look up at him and use my sincere face.

"No its not, I'm not sure what your talking about coach." I move over to my right shoe. I tap my ankle an grit my teeth. It hurts really badly. Like its on fire and being torn off at the same time. I slowly untie the knot and unlace it, trying my best not to bump it.

"You're hiding things and playing different. You're being...responsible." I force a laugh at that and look up at him.

"You say it like its a bad thing." He frowns at me and I'm suddenly afraid. I did something wrong.

"Too responsible. You pass the ball and let others play but...you're being too much of a team player. Blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault and being sure that the game goes exactly how it needs to. And you won't let anyone else even try to take some of that off you."

"I'm just giving my all. Not letting the team down. And we won, we should be celebrating."

"You're trying to much, you don't even care if you get hurt. Its like showing off or...I don't know what the heck your thinking or doing Pharaoh. I can't describe! I want to know what's going on in your brain because I don't recognize the player in front of me."

"I'm not holding back, that wouldn't be fair to the team if I didn't give it my best effort."

"This is more than your best Mira. Way more. Its dangerous you're pushing yourself past your limits."

"Are you underestimating me?" I ask confused.

"No I'm setting your limits for you because you don't know where they are. Tell me, if those free throws hadn't gone in...would you have tried to play over time?"

"We weren't going into over time." I tell him simply.

"Say we did." He urges.

"Impossible, the fate of that game was in my hands and I gave it to our team. I couldn't have missed those two free throws if I tried."

"Mira do you even hear yourself. You're a teenage girl. A human, by our nature we make mistakes. You could have missed those shots."

"That would be letting my team down, and I won't allow myself to do that ag-" I cut myself off before I finish the last word. Coach's eyebrows raise. "I can make mistakes, I know that." I tell him.

"I don't think you do." He says softly. "You don't know your boundaries and you practice at a level that I can't even comprehend. Do you even enjoy playing anymore? Or do you play just to see how much you screw up so you can perfect it even more?"

I let those questions go unanswered. Coach sighs and shakes his head. "Will you answer this question then: are you happy with how you play?"

I break eye contact and focus on slipping the blue shoe off my foot. My nerves are pulsing with pain as I get the shoe off. I still have my black ankle brace and two pairs of sock on. Through all of that I can see the swelling already.

"I missed easy shots that wouldn't have put them in that stressful last minute where the game was tied."

"And you did your best to make up for it, didn't you? You knew there was no way you were going to get inside shot with their defense and you went for it anyways. And look what happened to you." I stare at my ankle and can't help but acknowledge he's right.

I saw those two red and black players move in on me. I knew my options. Try to go through them and take the shot or jump stop and pass out. I could draw a fouls if I took option one and shoot free throws for it. Free throws I knew I could make. I owed it to my team to give them my all. So I did. A blocking foul was called but I hit the ground hard. My ankle got twisted and I shot two shaky free throws that did win the game and the end of the year tournament.

"I knew I had to do something and I did it. We won, its simple." I shrug and try to play it off.

"No its not. You didn't have to take responsibility for that. We could have played over time. We probably would have won over time. Why did you do that? Did you think we were gonna lose? Did you not trust your team?"

If we lost it would have been my fault. For not playing the best I could. Today was better than the last game. My accuracy is getting better and I didn't foul once. I still missed shots and had a turn over though. Sloppy little mistakes that could have cost the game.

"I feel like you're under the impression that you're not worth of this team. That you're the only one that makes mistakes. When you make those mistakes your afraid of everyone's blaming you for losses. You blame yourself and push beyond your limits in an attempt to play to some level of perfection that you're convinced you teammates have achieved that you're not at."

"I just don't want to be a weak link." I tell him. That's part of it but a small part. An extremely miniscule part.

"Weak link? Mira you lead the stats for accuracy and steals. You average more rebounds a game than some of the post players and you take it upon yourself to take the stressful last minutes shots. And I've heard you put in an extra hour or two of practice on some days. How on Earth are you afraid of being a weak link?!"

"I could make a mistake."

"And early you told me you don't allow yourself to. What's your goal, to shoot a hundred percent or something? You're a human, you have limits. You aren't _perfect!" _

I'm no human. I'm more. If only he knew that I was perfect.

I should be. I can be. I once was. I lost it. I did something wrong and lost it all. Everyone and everything I held dear. Love and confidence, security and a sense of who I was. It taunts me every day. Well he. The golden haired Legionnaire boy who I always run into no matter how hard I try. He's everything I used to be and should have been.

He reminds me that what I consider good isn't good enough. That I have to push beyond to find what 'good' is. Then maybe some day I can find great. Right now I sit in between awful and disappointment. In myself, for giving them a reason to leave me. I had to have done something. I didn't betray them, it was obviously a lie. Meant to get rid of me, but I had to do something to make them want me to be gone.

I think I let them down. I wasn't the perfect little hero they expected me to be. I promised myself never to give anyone else an excuse to leave me. I don't think I could live through losing everything and everyone again.

I was expected to make those shots so I had to. I was expected to play that game and help the team win so I did. I did it for them. I still worry that I won't be able to do enough for them. That some day I'll slip again. One of my mistakes will be too big.

Then I'll be alone again. I can't let that happen. I fear making mistakes. I fear losing it all. And I fear disappointing those I hold dearest.

If only he knew the full story.

There's a small creak and I look up at the door. It opens a few inches and Christian slips in and shuts it behind him. He's dressed in jeans with his blue and gold warm up shirt. He's holding a bag of ice in his right hand and he looks at me then Coach.

"Sorry," he apologizes sheepishly. "Didn't think I'd be interrupting."

"We weren't having much of a conversation. Maybe you can puzzle out the mystery that is this girl. I sure as heck can't." I divert my gaze but I can feel Christian looking at me.

"I brought ice, you took a nasty fall." He tells me softly.

"Thanks," I say halfheartedly while studying a locker.

"Did you sprain your ankle?" He asks like its a question. Coach can't hear the tone he adds to it that I recognize. Christian already knows there's no way I'm gonna be able to walk tomorrow. Its a son of Apollo thing, he's good with injuries.

"Yeah," I tell him. Coach whistles.

"Dang boy, you got her to answer your question." I look up at Christian who smirks and shrugs.

"What can I say? Its a natural talent." I snort and look away again. I throw my shoes in my black gym bag and pull out two flip flops. I don't bother to try and get my ankle braces or socks off. Its a long bus ride anyways. I pull out a little white bottle and take two red pills. Painkillers, thank the universe for these. Then I stand up, leaning heavily on my left leg.

"Mira!" Christian interjects. I hold up my arms to say 'what'. He gives me a glare. "No way are you walking out."

"Then how am I gonna get outside?" I ask him. He tosses me the plastic bag of ice. I grab it right as he steps toward me. Christian grabs my gym bag and slips the strap over his left shoulder. Then one of his arms goes under my back and the other goes under my knees. He picks me up and I throw my arms around his neck so I don't fall.

"The heck!" I protest.

"Don't even try. I'm not putting you down till your on the bus." I accept that as a fact. Coach whistles again.

"Pharaoh would you come clean to me if I was a cute, young athlete." My eyes widen and I try so hard not to blush. I don't even think of an argument I just listen to the awkward silence and try not to let my face go red.

"Sparks make sure she keeps that ice on for the ride. And if you feel like working any more miracles you could get the message across to her that her sky high expectations of perfection are what I call dumb." Coach walks out and Christian turns his head to look at me. We're just a few inches apart and I glare at him.

"You're not going to put me down are you?"

"Nope," he pops the p with a smirk.

"Dang you." I tell him.

"Just accept help. You need it." He pushes the door out of the way and walks out into the hallway. There's a line of fans on either side that I stretch out my arms to high five. I recognize teachers and friends and even some parents. The boys team is at the end of the hallway and they all whistle when they see us. Most of them are dressed like Christian, in their warm up shirts and jeans. Carter is at the back and his eyes narrow.

I flash a glare at all of the boys to shut them up. Carter picks up on it as a silent message. _ I hate this and plan on hurting him when he puts me down. _Their whistles are reduced to snickers and smirks.

"Dang Mira," Carter says, noticing my ankle for the first time. Walt pushes out of the group of guys along with Carter to look at my swollen right ankle. The pain's started to fade since I got some medicine. What I wouldn't give for a little shot of gorgon's blood right about now. I can't do that though because come Monday I'll be back at school injuries like this do not heal over weekends in the mortal world.

I can probably reduce it a little, make it heal quicker but I'm still going to need crutches for a week at least. The rest of the boys look at it now and I chose to ignore their exclamations and study the brick wall behind them instead.

"Hey guys I promised Coach I'd get her on the bus so move." The boys split in the middle and line either side of the hallway so we can pass through. We turn a corner and walk down a hallway filled with art plastered on the wall. Then a left turn and we're at a set of glass doors. Christian pushes it open, and then another. The night air is kinda cold but the night sky is bright. I can pick out the constellations I'd be able to see from Camp right around this time of year.

We pass a few benches and a flag pole. At the curb waits our yellow school bus with Brooklyn Academy for the Gifted written on the side in bold black paint. "Are we going to fit through the door?" I ask Christian as he strides toward it.

"Probably not." He tells me truthfully as we stand in front of the open doors. Our bus driver is a man in his mid-thirties with blond hair and brown eyes. He smiles a lot.

"Mira, what happened to you?" He asks when he sees me in Christian's arms.

"I did something to my ankle Mr. Niman. I can walk from here," I tell Christian. I look over to meet his blue eyes and find a little bit of concern in them I think. He nods and gently sets my feet back on the ground. I make sure my left one goes down first. I grab the railing and use it to help me pretty much jump up the two steps on one foot.

I limp down the aisle to the back of the bus. The girls team is mostly seated in the front with a few others scattered around. I smile when I pass them and assure them my ankle is nothing. I known none of them believe me. By Monday I'll probably have my locker decorated in get well wishes and goody bags.

I turn around and collapse onto the last seat on the right side of the bus. I scoot my back up against the cold window and stretch my right leg out on the seat. I put my left one on the floor. It just barely sticks out into the aisle. I readjust myself to try and get comfortable on the not so very well padded seats. At least they aren't ripped and torn up. And its pretty clean on the bus, that's a plus too.

Christian sits down across from me. He sets my gym bag down in the middle of the aisle and slides it under my seat. "Thanks," I tell him. I lean down and place the plastic ice bag that I'm still holding on top of my right ankle. I unzip my bag and pull out a little towel which I tie around my ankle to keep the ice there.

The boys announce their arrival on the bus by shouting and generally being noisy. The two seats in front of both of us aren't filled yet. Chrisitan's occupied himself by pulling some homework out of his bag and starting on it. His blond hair hides his eyes when he looks down at something. I hear Coach shouting for kids to sit down.

"I heard all of that conversation you know. You don't make sense anymore." He tells me without even looking up.

"Why do you care?"

"You need to care about yourself. I know its only your ankle now but what will it be tomorrow? I've seen the changes too. Why do you do that?"

If only he knew its because of him.

I change the subject instead of answering. "How bad?" I ask and he sighs when he realizes I won't be answering his question.

"A grade three sprain which would be about eight to twelve weeks of recovery time normally." I know that extra word at the end was added specifically because of who I am. Nothing about me is normal. "If you want I can reduce it to a grade one sprain before we get home. No one will ever known."

I look down so he can't see my thoughts racing along behind my eyes. He doesn't know that I have Jaz's healing to fall back on. He thinks I'm gonna be stuck as a mortal on crutches waiting forever for it to heal. And he just offered to partially fix it for me. Why? I know the Romans expressively forbid helping traitors and prisoner and the enemy. Of which I'm two and almost was three.

I can't deny his help and then ask Jaz because he'll know something is up. I'm stuck accepting his help again. Or I can sit around on crutches for twelve weeks which would probably drive me insane. Not to mention the effect it would have on my gymnastics and sword fighting. _Do not accept help from the Roman._ A little hiss in my head tells me. Where did that come from? I decide to worry about hearing voices (again) later.

"Sure," I tell him as if I'm indifferent. "That would be nice." _You made a mistake._ The voice hisses again in warning. _Shut up._ I tell it and then its gone.

"Two conditions," he says, still not looking up. I raise an eyebrow even though he can't see it. "You let me drive you home when we get back-"

"-you can drive?" I ask in shock. I look up at him suddenly and find him staring at me as well. He nods.

"Yeah, my dad got the license all worked out for me as a retirement present." Shocker, but Apollo does love cars and driving. His kids probably too. I wonder what car Christian drives. I realize that will give us time to talk in an environment even more private than this. So he hasn't forgotten Coach's other request to try and talk me into lowering my standards. That will be a fun lecture. Hopefully he won't even try. But I think he will.

If only he knew why I try so hard.

Then he asks the question I never would have ever imagined him asking. "And, will you help me with my English homework?"

I'm pretty sure my eyes widened in shock for a whole minute before I actually comprehended that he was sincerely asking for help. My help, on something ordinary that I never would have imagined him needed help with.

"Deal." I tell him. Christian holds his homework out to me but I lean over and grab something else from my bag. Its my purple English text book with my worksheet tucked inside. "What question are you on?"

**AN: Yeah I know Mira doesn't make much sense. She's having some mental issues right now. In case you didn't pick up on the chaos that is her thought process. Mira thinks there was a reason she was gotten rid of. The reason she has come up with is that she wasn't good enough for them. She does not want to lose everything again so she is trying to be good enough for everyone else in her life and soaring way beyond they're expectations. She's still convinced its not enough and she's afraid of 1) repeating her mistakes and 2) losing it all. Yeah she's got issues.**

**I plan on skimming over the months until June in the same manner as this. A chapter for each month or maybe two months just to show how she's coping and changing. Because if I just skip to the confrontation no one is going to recognize Mira. Keep reading!**


	24. Chapter 24

**AN: Sorry guys but this chapter...well yeah it took awhile to write. Spring Break (without a computer), extra practice for Music Contest (I qualified for State with my flute solo!), and Forensics are my lame excuses. My not so lame excuse: My birthday kinda distracted me from writing. It was the 5th of April. Yeeaaaah, I got really distracted.**

**One other thing, I did lots of rereading for this chapter and have noticed some areas where my characters act OCC for just about a paragraph. I'll be going back to fix those and if I make any major changes I'll let everyone know. Plus I realized I went from past to present tense. Since I started in past tense and Rick Riordan writes in past tense when I finish the book I'll be going back and making sure I convert it all to past tense. We're getting close guys! The climax is soooo close I can't wait to write it!**

Guest -funny I got this review right as I was finishing editing this chapter :)

Guest-here it is

e.b -just keep reading

A Guest-thanks :) oh and by the way you reviewed on my birthday which I considered a pretty cool present

Bella-make a rate? Like try and say how often I update? I'm sorry but I really try to update once a week but that never happens any more because I'm busy. I'd say every two weeks if everything in my life is working out well

Shyer Elizabeth-*eyes wide* yeah! I can't believe it! Thank you so much, that is like the best compliment ever!

Katchthemoll-yeppers, even more romance to come

KanjiofRai-it will happen soon! Promise. But Mira's still about three months behind Percy. At this point Percy still isn't awake.

Shalalalalalala-as stated, we've still got to catch Mira up first. It will come soon.

**Chapter 24~Lies, Secrets, and Goodbyes (for real this time)**

**Late April Mira PoV**

"Wow," a single word of awe in the silence that I've fallen into. Christian didn't make any attempt to break it while we were driving here. Where's here? My new 'home'. Its not a home, its just a place. Somewhere I go to pretend I'm normal and don't live in a house where a crocodile lives in the pool and jumping off balconies is viewed as fun. A place where charmed socks don't float around the house and we don't have to fix the t.v. once a week when it gets hit my a stray spell.

This is a mortal home, its boring and ordinary and a welcome place to retreat to every now and then. Okay well its not boring or ordinary by _mortal _standards. I didn't rent an apartment, I've got unlimited cash and a spoiled childhood behind me. I rented the penthouse of a five star hotel. I had to pretend to be an adult while I filled out the paper work but it really wasn't that hard. I just acted stuck up and slightly snobby, wore some heels, designer clothes, and a ridiculous amount of make up and whala, the penthouse was mine. Then I had to establish the fact that I flew around the world doing a bunch of top secret work that people could not ask questions about and the penthouse was being lived in by some not so distant but not so close relation of mine.

Sounds hard? I've had practice. Its better than it sounds and even though I can't charm speak any more I still can lay on the charm and get mortals to believe some things I want them too. I think its the Egyptian version of the Mist but I haven't had time to investigate. I've been too busy trying to figure out the voice in my head, this 'difference' in my attitude that a bunch of my friends have noticed, and a way to tell the Egyptians just who I am.

I have to soon, the lies and secrets are too confusing and too heavy for me to keep to myself any longer. I'm going to have to let them go sooner or later, I've been planning on sooner but you can't just tell people one of their enemies has been living with them for four months and you've been keeping it a secret.

Not to mention that Jaz has misinterpreted me avoiding Christian for something else. She thinks my hate is love. That I've got some massive secret crush on him that makes me shy. As if I would ever be shy. I know for a fact I wouldn't, because once there was something there...last November...and maybe a bit before that. Jaz has been driving me crazy though, trying to push us together when I'm trying to get away from him. Why? Well not only do I not trust him and he reminds me of the past, there's conversation I've been avoiding.

After the basketball tournament a month ago, we got attacked by monsters. I've never been more grateful to be monster bait in my life. They didn't really attack me though. Still they saved me from having to talk to him. While I want to ask a lot of questions I'm not sure I'll like the answers. Like why does he suddenly care so much? Why does he offer me help and ask for mine?

Its confusing and it reminds me a lot of how things used to be. Which gives me dreams of memories at night, I wake up about ready to cry. I can never get back to sleep after those dreams. Instead I get up and remind myself of my promise: never give my friends a reason to turn on me again. Then I try to figure out that voice in my head, try to answer some of my frequently occurring questions (excluding the voice), or practice magic before school.

I guess its too late to try and avoid this conversation now that one of his attempts to get me alone has worked. I've been dodging several for a month and today he finally succeeded. I was going to walk home with Jaz when he ran up behind us and made up a lie about me wanting to work on our history project tonight. Jaz got that devious sparkle in her eye that all best friends get when they ditch you with a boy. Then she made up a lame excuse to leave us alone. Thanks a lot.

Anyways he drove me to my 'home' and here I am. The living room has an 'L' shaped couch in the middle of a hardwood floor with a coffee table in front of it. A few plushy chairs sit around it. The wall in front of me, opposite the elevator door, is all glass. Right now its covered by reddish-brown blinds. One wall has a water color picture bordered by two open doorways. The other has a long gas fire place which is also bordered by two door frames.

I grab the straps of my back pack and gym bag and shove them off my shoulders. The two bags drop to the floor with soft thuds. I drop down onto the couch and turn my body so I'm facing Christian. He's still standing, holding his back pack, in the doorway. "Well are you going to stand there or work on our history project? That's an awful lie by the way."

"Its not a lie," he protests with a frown as he places his backpack on the ground next to a chair and sits down slowly. He's still scanning the room, as if he's waiting for some monster to jump out of the shadows. "Did you just plan on not doing the assignment?"

I laugh at Christian. I can't help it, its a ridiculous question. "Did you even look at the project? Research and give a five minute presentation on war strategies of any ancient civilization. Cause we really need to research _that._" I laugh some more and he glares at me.

"Were you just going to let me do all the speaking or were you going to wing it?" I get a hold of my laughter and smirk at him.

"Wing it, obviously. It would turn out a lot better than you think it would. You think I want to talk to you?" I turn up the heat on my glare. The familiar anger I get when I'm mad at him specifically starts to build up. Its hot and it starts in my heart and slowly spreads out.

"No," Christian answers honestly with a masked face. I can't read his emotions. "But we both know you need to." My anger spikes and quickly races from my heart to the tips of my toes and up to my brain where it sets fire to my thoughts.

"I don't need to talk to you and I certainly do not need you." I tell him hatefully. My voice is even toned but with rising volume. _How dare the Roman suggest such a thing. _It takes me a second to recognize the voice, and then another second to realize I'm whole heartedly agreeing with it.

"Mira somethings up, I don't know what okay? You haven't been honest with me in five months."

"Four," I protest. It doesn't matter to me though.

"Five," he insists and I roll my eyes. He's crazier than I am. _Kill the insane Roman now, _the voice urges, _it would be the merciful thing to do. _ I'm getting a little irritated and annoyed now. _Good, be angry._

"I wonder why?" I tell him sarcastically. "There couldn't possibly be a totally obvious reason why I don't trust you anymore."

"Mira you can't deal with this all on your own, people are starting to notice. You need to get what ever your problem is sorted out before it draws more attention. The Romans will find you again if you're not more careful."

"Did you just say I can't deal with it?" I can deal with it. No matter what he says I can do it. Besides he's Roman, I don't care what he thinks, not any more.

"Yes, because I don't think you can. It worked for a semester but this is too much for you Mira. Its wearing you down and you can't keep your two lives separate. Your 'I can do it all' attitude doesn't fit in the mortal world. They can't understand the way your acting. They can't understand why you aren't happy with what you have now. Even I can't understand it. You were never like this before."

"Before, things changed. A lot of things." I tell him darkly.

"Exactly. You're not on Olympus, you don't have to act like a goddess any more. No one expects you to be that perfect. No one but yourself. They should never have expected that much of you, I think it..."

"Think it what?" I ask with a feeling of dread.

"I think it drove you over the edge. Mira you weren't ever claimed were you? Why, because you weren't Roman or Greek. They shouldn't have expected a mortal girl with clear sight to be able to do things even demigods can't. We expected too much of you. It doesn't have to be like that any more. Your real friends think you're amazing even on your worst days. You don't have to strive for the perfection expected on Olympus anymore. You can be what your supposed to be, a mortal."

_The Roman insults you, do not stand for this. Attack!_ The voice screams. "I'm not mortal!" I blurt out defiantly while jumping to my feet.

"The monsters don't pick up on your scent any more. The only reason they're still around is because of me. I lead them here and you keep fighting them just like before." I open my mouth to protest and he jumps to his feet as well and cuts me off, "I've watched. They don't attack you any more. I'm sorry I've helped delude you this long. If you're going to live a mortal life then you need to start acting more like a mortal. Stop pretending you're perfect, stop fighting monsters, and enjoy your life. At least yours is guaranteed to last longer."

"You can't speak like you know what you're talking about because you don't." I tell him coldly. "You know nothing so stop acting like you know it all."

"You don't know it all either." He points out.

"I wish I did, I'm still looking for most of my answers. They can't hide from me forever. I'll find them soon."

"Just forget it Mira, if its a question about before forget it. You can't keep living like this. You can't handle it! You were bound to break sooner or later and now you have. And its partially my fault. And now you expect as much of yourself as I did but you can't meet that. Its not possible for you to meet those standards of the gods when you're just a mortal. If you keep reaching for things out of your grasp then you're going to die soon."

"That's what I did, I couldn't handle it." I say slowly. I've found my reason. And I was right, I wasn't good enough for them. They thought I couldn't take it.

"Mira we put you in that position, you didn't do anything."

"You left me for dead! I did something to push you away, to not want me to be your friend any more, something that would make you believe I would back stab you. And its because I couldn't handle it. I can handle it now." I step back and nod to myself. _Yes you can, don't let the Roman's doubts influence your confidence. _My inner voice tells me.

"Mira that's not it." He tells me in a softer tone. Christian steps forward and I cross my arms. "Olympus asked too much of you."

"I can do it now, I rise to challenges."

"That's why you're so determined. You're still rising to the immortal standard." Christian comprehends this for the first time and a look of understanding crosses his face.

"And I will continue to do so until I'm satisfied with myself." I inform him coldly.

"No," he tells me suddenly. "I don't know how to get this across to you. Maybe its impossible. Trying to reverse fourteen years of 'you can do it' and tell you instead that you can't. There's two different worlds Mira. You can't compete in the immortal one. Stay in the mortal one. Because that's what you are. If you try to return to the immortal one...well if your deranged ideas of being perfect don't kill you then the Legion will."

"I'm not mortal." I insist again.

"Then what are you?"

"I'm still searching for that answer." I tell him while looking away.

"You're lying to yourself." He tells me with a sigh.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I did this to you, didn't I? Somewhere in the double life between Olympus and BAG and then the Legion. I challenged you too much and now you're broken. Your thoughts are crazy, you don't trust any more, and I had to try to fix it before I leave."

"You're leaving?" I ask while turning around to see his face. He's serious. I'm not sure why but this shocks me. A lot, and I kinda feel like I'll miss him. Even when I thought he'd leave my life he came back. _You are not attached to the Roman._ The voice reminds me. Its right. I'm not.

"Yeah, I'm not going to be the reason the Olympians find you again. The monsters will stop coming and maybe without me reminding you of the standard you'll start living a real mortal life. With no connection left to Olympus. I kinda think I'm the only reason you still challenge yourself. Because you've always pushed yourself when your around me. And you think I still except it. Maybe around just mortals you'll readjust to their standards."

I can't believe it. He's going to leave! I won't have to worry about Olympus. And all he said about the challenges, some part of me deep inside feels that its true to some degree. If I am acting different because of him I'll stop when he leaves. Then finally everything can be normal again.

Nothing ever has been normal though, and it never will be. I remind myself with some degree of sadness. From Olympus to Egypt. I still wonder how I ended up there. How does a magician get adopted by gods? Wouldn't they realize who I was? Why would I even be placed on Olympus? If I was abandoned it should have been in a Nome or an orphanage. Not on the doorstep of some of the most powerful beings in existence. Why hadn't the Egyptians realized I was gone? Somewhere in there a lot of lies were told, a lot of secrets kept, and a lot of answers hidden.

That's when it clicks.

I can't find my answers, because they were hidden.

"Where do the gods put things they don't want?" I ask out loud. My mind starts to plan it all out. I can run down the steps, catch a subway, and be in Manhattan in an hour or less. Its so simple, I can't believe I didn't figure it out before.

"What?" Christian asks, totally shocked. "Mira are you alright?"

"If you're thinking that this is proof that I'm insane as you've eluded to several times now, then think again. I have to go." I tell him.

"Where?"

"You don't need to know that," I tell him with a smirk. I run through an open door frame. I don't notice the rooms I'm passing through as I make my way to a room in the corner of the penthouse. I can hear Christian's footsteps behind me. I open the door and flick the light switch on as I step into a totally dark room.

"Mira now I know your crazy. You can't go there!" I survey the walls that are covered with questing supplies. Christian steps in behind me. "What is this?" He demands.

"Old habits die hard." I inform him as I grab a black water proof back pack and start to fill it. This room is filled with camping supplies. I start with a sleeping bag and some flash lights. Then I add duct tape and some extra clothes. I'll add weapons later. I put my phone in too, I'm not sure why but I feel like I'm going to need to call some one and explain some things later.

"You're going without weapons," Christian observes with a frown.

"They're stashed somewhere else," I tell him informatively as I make my way back to the living room. I go through another door into the kitchen and start adding non perishables and water bottles to my bag. Then I zip it up and grab my wallet and phone out of my back pack in the living room.

"Mira just leave it be. You don't belong to this world. I told you if you didn't stop you were going to die. Well I'm warning you now that you're going to die if you do this." I straight up into his eyes and shake my head.

"Once I would have listened, once that would have mattered to me, and once after telling me I was crazy you would have promised me you'd be crazy with me. Things changed and I want to know why. I have a lot of questions and I want a lot of answers. And you, you know nothing. So I'm telling you to leave this be. You're leaving soon right?"

"Monday," he tells me with a frown. Two days, just the weekend.

"So then this is our real goodbye."

"Why am I not surprised that your determined to walk into danger again." Christian wonders out loud. "I hope you find your answers." He tells me with a frown. "And then I hope when this is all behind you, you get your chance to be normal."

I look into his eyes and see something there. Its care and there's a spark of determination as well. And just like before I can see exactly what he's thinking.

"You're not going to let me go." I say out loud.

"Mira actually-"

"Don't say anything," I tell him in a tone laced with hate.

_The Roman has no right to interfere. _No he doesn't. Its like theres a fire growing inside of my heart. It keeps building up and then finally it seeks a way to escape. _Kill him now, _it urges. Should I? I think inside but the magic is released before I have the chance to figure out what I want. It runs out of me with a flash of gold and I can't see for a moment.

I feel a bit tired when my vision comes back. He's laying half on the floor and half on the couch in front of me. Oh my gods what did I do? Its the first clear thought I've had in a while. _What you should have a long time-_

"Shut up," I tell the voice. I watch his chest for a breath. Then I sigh with relief when I see him breath normally.

"I didn't mean to do that," I tell him even though he can't hear me. "I can handle it, and even though they'll never know I will. That's what I'm reaching for. I'll be even more extraordinary than before. And you'll know. You'll know that after I was declared not good enough and framed that I did the one thing a demigod has never survived before." I grin to myself but I feel like there's more to this. After all he say good bye and I didn't. I bite my lip and then continue after a moment of thought.

"I'm not sure what I hope for you. I think it depends on the answers I find. No matter what I hope I'll never have to fight you. Ever. Because I'll never forget those ten years, even if you did. Bye Sparky." I leave him there, crumpled on the floor. I slip the back pack on as I walk to the elevator. This time I'm determined to leave it behind. This time I won't look back. And I don't turn around until the elevator opens on ground level.

**AN: The drama builds! So now I've left two cliffies. I promise I'll go back to Leo and Jaz...soon. Next chapter will be more Mira. Oh and there's going to be two questions cause the idiot author (me) forgot the question on the last chapter.**

**Q1: Name the three furies.**

**Q2: What is the last name of Clarisse's boyfriend?**


	25. Chapter 25

**Guest-correct**

**A Guest-dang you got all three! Bonus points to you :)**

**Shyer Elizabeth-oh dear, I've broken your mind. The first sentence was a gibberish. Um, just calm down and read. It will be alright, promise! I will keep writing and ...things will happen...and uh yeah no spoilers ;) but keep reading**

**Guest-correct**

RTRfootbal**l-I think Alecto was the only one in the books so correct for both answers! Oh yes they shall. But yet again, Mira's still a couple of months behind. I'm thinking both sides of the story will be caught up in about three more chapters. Maybe four. Thanks you!**

katchthemoll1**-thanks! Oh I shall do that *devious author laugh * your welcome :)**

Yolcholl**-yeppers!**

trustingHim1**7-I'm so glad you did. I'm trying to speed up my writing pace, promise. Correct to both**

Shalalalalalala**-yes and yes and okay I will!**

**AN: So really long chapter coming up. And hey I updated within two weeks. Isn't that amazing? Hope you enjoy, now read! Oh and I have edited Ch. 21 I changed the ending to make Percy a bit more in character. So if you want to go back and read the last to paragraphs you can. If not it doesn't change anything really, he still ends up in Manhattan with the demigods fighting monsters.**

**Chapter 25~I Meet my Creepy Immortal Fanclub**

**Late April Mira PoV**

It took me half an hour to get to Manhattan Central Park. I had a bout a fifty percent chance of dying when I set foot in Manhattan and a ninety-nine percent chance of dieing where I was going. But I'm special , I can do this. Something no one else has done before. I know now I've done lots of things no one else has done before. I want to know why.

Why was I an Egyptian on Olympus? Why was I abandoned? Why did the gods really keep me? Why was I never recognized?

The park is nice with spring starting to show just like every where else. I'm not interested in flowers or grass. The rocks in the middle in the park are what I'm after. They look suspiciously like a cave entrance or gates. They're actually both.

The Door of Orpheus, Nico told me its how he led Percy down to the Underworld to get Achilles Curse. You need music, that won't be an issue. I stand in front of them and look at the top of them. They're several feet taller than me and rather ominous looking. This is the last chance to back out. To just leave it be and try to be normal.

Its no use pretending to be something I'm not. It will ultimately backfire on me. I need theses answers, I'm not afraid. I'm not a coward, I don't back away. So I take a deep breath and sing with all my courage the first song that comes to mind.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller, doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone. What doesn't kill you makes a fighter..." I sing the chorus once and pause. The rocks rumble and shift apart a little bit. There's a hole barely big enough for me to squeeze into.

I take off my back pack and close my eyes. I reach for my magic bag and sword and then wait for them to come to me. They drop out of thin air and I grin. I squish my magic bag into the back pack and keep my sword with me.

Then I wiggle into the hole head first and then crawl through into the darkness. I have to pull my back pack through separately. The first thing I do inside is pull out a flash light and flick it on. It illuminates the dark stairs spiraling down into the earth. I pull the bag back on and then I start walking down them slowly and quietly. I have to watch where I place my feet so I don't slip or trip.

Them seem endless and extremely short at the same time. I come out at the base of a cliff and look out over the Underworld. The three fields stretch out before me. The sight of Elysium makes me hesitate for a second. I used to think I'd end up there, right in the middle on the Isle of the Blest. That doesn't matter any more, the thought of the past disappears as quickly as it appeared.

I scan the dark caverns for security. It seems extremely thinly spread. As if some one is missing. I know the Fields of Punishment look abnormally empty. I think I'll skirt around the edge of the cavern to the back where the darkness is thickest. I nod to myself and start to walk around the edge of the cavern. I flick my flash light off and creep in silence around the Underworld. I hold my breath twice when security skeletons pass me and then I keep moving.

I can feel the evil creeping into the air as I approach the darkness. I can see the outline of the crevice now that I'm closer. It looks like a dragon's mouth with craggy rocks extending in sharp points out into the abyss. I have to walk up hill a little to get it and then I look into the hole. I smell death and decay. Fear tries to creep into my brain but I want my answers more. Its like they're calling to me.

I slowly edge my way out onto one of the little ledges. I look down. I must be crazy. But they are in there. Where do the gods put things they don't want? Where did I fear that I'd end up when I ran?

Tartarus.

Its almost funny that I'm willingly going the place they were going to force me into. I fought so hard to stay out only to come here now, and I'm going to willingly jump. The answers call to me again, I'm not sure how I'm going to get out. But I have this feeling that it will all be okay. I really am crazy. Its alright though. If I wasn't I'd be normal, and I know I'm not that.

What am I? I don't know. But after this I will. And nothing will keep me from finding out. I'm willing to do what ever it takes. Jump into darkness and join the evilest of evil? No problem. I think I've defeated most everything that's known to reside in Tartarus.

That gives me the last bit of confidence I need to smile and jump. I never look back. Instead I fall into the darkness silently. I hear air rush by me in a whirl. It gets louder as I speed up. My vision gradually dims as I fall. My world goes from the dim color of the Underworld to gray, and then I becomes black.

I glance up to see if I can see light that way but its dark all around. I spin around some more, looking for anything but black. There's nothing to see though. I lose my sense of direction for a while as I spin. But there's something pulling me down, its a lot more than gravity. I reorient myself to face down, wondering when I'll reach the bottom.

Its hard to keep track of anything in the darkness. I know I'm falling, I can feel the tug that keeps pulling me faster and faster. And I know that I'll somehow find my answers and make it out of here. I have hope, and that's the most important thing down here. Even if I can't see, even if I'm in the most evil place in the world, I have hope it will be all right.

I start to slow down after a while, or maybe it was a few seconds. The darkness converges around me. It starts to thicken around me and slow me down. Its like I'm swimming at first, and then it feels like there's jello beneath me. Its not entirely supporting me but there is something beneath me. I come to a stop and then suddenly I drop again. I get my feet under me and land roughly on them.

The ground is hard and flat. I crouch down and run my hands across it. Its freezing and totally smooth. Its almost like glass but I have a feeling it can't be broken. I stand up and grab the straps of my back pack to make sure its still there. At this point my eyes are totally useless. I'll have to rely on touch, smell, and hearing to get around.

I put my sword in my right hand and then blindly feel with my left. I think I'd look stupid if anyone could see me. I take one step forward and then another. I walk slowly with a hand in front of my face, feeling for an edge to the pit. Eventually I have to run into one and I can use it for a guide.

The darkness surrounds me in a way that makes me feel like the wall is close. Its like I can sense its there but I can't find it. All I can hear is my footsteps. The air suddenly becomes cold. I hear a hiss and respond to it by spinning around and blindly slashing. There's a yelp and dust is suddenly blown in my face. I sneeze and brush my face with my free hand.

I squint into the darkness and see two dim eyes starting to brighten in front of me. They give out enough light for me to see a body rising up from the ground. I slash at it again and the eyes go dark. Two seconds later they appear and start to brighten again as the monster reassembles itself. I can't kill them here because they're already in Tartarus. I reach that conclusion just in time to slash at the monster again, then turn and run.

I slam into something softish and stumble back. There's a growl and I look up out of habit. I can see a small pair of eyes that don't glow as much as the pair before. I hear a rush and jump to the side. A cold blast of air passes over my shoulder and numbs it. I take a few steps back and hear a louder pair echo mine. I hear that rush again but this time I don't move fast enough. My entire right arm is encases in something hard and cold. Ice. I'm fighting a Hyperborean...I think.

My arms really heavy and starting to go numb now. I grit my teeth and focus. The silence helps but the heavy breathing of the monsters around me doesn't. I still manage to think of light, fire, and warmth. I whisper a word and there's a small flash of light. It gives me time to see whats around me and it melts the ice off my arm.

Okay so there's two Hyperboreans in front of me, a Telekhine behind me, and a few Empousa on either side of me. The light shocks them one of the giants stumbles back a step. My brain becomes fuzzy from the unexpected light and from exhaustion. It was hard to do that spell, way harder than it should have been. I stumble forward to where I think the giant left a gap in the circle around me.

I ram into something scaly and push it to the side as I take off sprinting. I hear hisses and chattering behind me as they attempt to follow. The pounding footsteps of the giants let me know where they are thankfully. I hear the rush again and duck to the side as a jet of ice shoots past me. It misses by a lot though because I can't feel the cool air this time.

My foot slips and I throw my arms out to catch myself as I fall. The giant slicked up the ground. He wasn't even aiming for me. Their footsteps get even louder behind me as I get back to my feet unsteadily. I've never been this off balance before. I realize then that my sword isn't in my hand. I curse in my head and decide to go on without it. It wasn't much use to me and I can' try to summon it from the Duat later. If I have to leave it down here I can always get another back in Brooklyn.

"You might want this." I freeze at the sound of the voice. I wish I could see right now. Or at least know what I'm up against. A cold hand grabs my arm and forces something into my fist. I feel it for a second before realizing its the grip of my sword. The hand hasn't let go yet and it makes me anxious. Its grip tightens as I'm yanked to a side. "Keep quiet." I'm tempted to holler as loudly as I can but I'd rather not have to fight the monsters I can't kill.

The footsteps get closer, and then softer as the monsters continue past. I'm barely breathing since I'm afraid to make too much noise. I'm also listening for this other person but they don't breath at all. Their hand is still cutting off circulation to my arm.

"Now we can talk." The voice says. I've determined its a male voice.

"I want a name and intentions first." I growl back in a low voice.

"I gave you back your sword and didn't betray your position to the monsters. If you still think I want to harm you-"

"-oh please there are at least a thousand monsters that want to kill me. And there's only one of me. You could be luring me to a different group that wants to kill me even more."

"You're not in a trusting mood today."

"Not even close." I tell him. "Name, now."

"Later. I need get out of here before my spells of disguise wear off. First some advice. Don't make any deals with the Titans. They're still Greek and Roman, that makes them an enemy no matter what. They won't harm you if you don't provoke them. Just politely decline and leave. Next, find what you want and leave. You'll move away from the Doors of Death if you go the right way so you shouldn't have to worry about the converging monsters. Oh, and, leave on the other side. I'm sure you could climb out of Tartarus if you put your mind to it but its just easier to slip out on the other side. And lastly, remember whose side you're on. You owe nothing to Olympus, nothing at all."

"Why is this important?" I ask in confusion. Most of what he told me makes no sense. "Are you that voice in my head? Because you can be really annoying and some of your advice sucks. I think I'm delusional."

"No you're not delusional. The answer for both questions is you'll find out soon." I sigh. Why can't it just be straight forward?

"You know I really hate it when I get that answer."

"Well since you're being rude I don't feel like giving you another answer. My advice sucks, you'll see. Someday you'll be glad. When we run into each other next time I'm sure you'll recognize me as a friend."

"Not likely. You see I don't plan on coming back down here and if I see you again most likely I'll just send you straight back down here."

They laugh at me with a raspy laugh. "That will be harder than you think. And now I'm going to leave before you decide to try to kill me now." He lets go of my arm. I swing my sword blindly in the darkness. I hear nothing but the swish of my sword through the air. Whoever they are, they're already gone.

Great. Now I'm alone in the dark again with out a clue where I'm going. I don't know which direction I came from. But I feel a small pull in my chest. I know where I want to go. I start walking quickly, calmly, and confidently. The darkness wraps around me as I continue and eventually I fall back into the silence from before. Where its just me all alone down here. All I can hear is myself. The air feels a bit warmer and the way it presses around me feels almost...reassuring. Its a strange feeling of belonging. Deep inside I know this is all right, I'm doing what I'm supposed to.

That this will all work out and I'm going to reach my goal soon. I want to sigh with relief. The air grows warmer and the tug inside grows stronger as I keep walking. I don't seem to get tired, instead I feel stronger. The darkness doesn't seem so total anymore. I gasp out loud when I realize its gray now. The black has faded. I spin around once to make sure I'm not going crazy. Yes, there's black behind me and a very dark gray in front. But its a start.

"Mira Pharaoh. I foresaw that the monsters would bring you." The voice comes from my right. I squint into the gray and realize its a bit lighter off to my left. I cautiously approach. There's two stone chairs, with high backs. A man sits in the one on the right, a woman in the one on his left. I can't really make out any details on their face but I can tell their there. The man is an even lighter shade of gray but the woman is black. I frown, this is strange.

I stop about ten feet away from them, not wanting to go even closer. "You evaded them. The question is how you did that." The woman says. "Its quite the mystery. Even my husband could not see you."

I bite my lip as I think. They're familiar. "So you do recognize us," the man says while looking away. His eyes are shut. Ten seconds later I do recognize them, just as he says.

"You're Koios, Titan of the North and of foresight. And you're Phoebe, Titaness of Mystery. You sent the monsters after me?"

"Yes. Hyperboreans are from the north, they'll do me a favor every now and then."

"Why?" I ask rather bluntly.

"We want to make a deal." Oh great. "You see Tartarus is dark." No duh Sherlock. Great to know Phoebe, cause it was such a mystery. "And boring. Especially for us. I'm one of the more curious Titans. I love mysteries, I love answers, and questions. Asking questions and figuring things out." She laughs with glee. "Here there are none. The world outside of this pit is where the mysteries reside. Where there are questions and things to discover."

"I can see them all." Koios says in a creepy monotone. Its like the voice of the Oracle when she's about to give a prophecy. "We watch, that is all we can do."

"And how do you know about me?" I ask. Phoebe's face shifts a bit, I think she's smiling. Its hard to tell when her skin is black as Tartarus itself.

"I like you, you ask a lot of questions. You have a lot of mysteries. Fascinating mysteries, you were always my favorite demigod to watch." Phoebe states.

"Excuse me?!" I almost shout. Watch me? As in a creepy kind of watching my life every moment of every day?

"You have an intriguing life, even for a demigod. At first we just watched the quests," Koios states calmly. Oh yeah, sure watch my life its no big deal.

"But then your whole life was so ridden with mysteries we couldn't help but watch it all. Like those images the mortals go to see. A movie! Yes, your life was one long movie."

"Was?" I ask slightly afraid. Past tense is never good with a prophetic immortal. Especially when they've got enough power to see beyond Tartarus itself.

"It disappeared. One of the best mysteries yet!" Phoebe exclaims. "When you ran from the Olympians Koios stopped seeing you. I've been searching for answers and I think I've found it."

"Which brings us back to that which we wished to discuss with you," Koios says, his voice coming out of its monotone. "We know how it is to be pitted against the Olympians for no reason at all."

"We can sympathize." Phoebe says in an overly sweet voice. "No friends, cast out, almost killed, cast into Tartarus, just look at us! We're in the same situation."

"We sent the monsters to bring you to us as soon as I saw your fall. Together we can find a way out. There's no reason for us to be enemies anymore. The enemy of your enemy is your friend." I blink while I wrap my mind around their words. They think I was caught and thrown down here. They don't know I came on my own. They don't know I'm just here for my answers, I don't think they know that I'm a magician.

"We can be friends. Together we can rise up, we can have revenge. If you want." Phoebe offers. "We can return to the light. And I'll tell you a bit of you're past." She's got me there. If she has the answers, would I really release a Titan to get them? Two actually. It wouldn't affect me. I'd be on their side.

"How do you know?" I ask cautiously as I take a step toward them.

"I don't right now, my powers are more limited here in Tartarus. I have...connections in the immortal world. Even secrets as hidden as yours can be revealed. That is if you know how to find the answers."

"I see light in you're future Mira. That is why there is a touch of it here. The grayness instead of darkness, its because I can see a brightly shinning light. That's all I can see, but its there." So that's why he's gray. I was wondering about that. Maybe she's black because of her whole 'mystery' thing. Go figure, Titans are strange.

I could accept. It could all end here. I get my answers, they get their light and mysteries. Olympus will probably get another war in a few years. It would show them. This time I have a feeling the Titans would win.

_They are still Greek, they are still Roman. That will never change. Olympus may be their enemy but they are still your enemy. Do not trust **them.**_

The voice is right. Titans are tricky, I don't want to deal with them. But if they have my answers...

_They don't._

Could you please be a little more helpful Voice? Tell me the answers, or at least where they are!

_You know._

Thanks a lot. The Voice doesn't respond and I want to growl with frustration. I really wish I could rip it out of my head. Maybe its me though. I can feel deep down that its right. The answers are beyond. They're still out there, I can find them with out the Titans. They're actually near...and they're calling to me. Its a tug in my heart. I want to walk away from this and to my right. That's the way to go.

"No thank you." I tell the Titans with forced politeness because I'd rather not be incinerated right now. That would not be good. "I have to go." I start to back up slowly. Phoebe rises from her chair.

"Where is there to go?" She questions me. Her voice is shrill with anger. "We have the answers, we offer a deal! Why do you leave? I do not like this mystery." I back up a bit more quickly.

"Let her go darling," I hear Koios say as they fade back to darkness. "I see the light in her future. But now I see more, she will be back. Do not worry." His creepy monotone is back. I turn and run. At first its my fear that drives me away from them. I have to get away from those two crazy stalker Titian. And I need to set up some privacy spells when I return to Brooklyn.

I'm back in the dark again. I'm sick of black. And darkness, and creepy people and just all of this! It feels like eternity I've been down here and I haven't even gotten tired enough to sleep yet. I just so fed up with it all that I stomp my foot and let out a sigh of frustration.

A light flickers in front of my face. Its a hieroglyph. I stare at it in shock, my anger forgotten for the moment. There's _light_! Another one flickers on ahead of it. I run toward it and as I pass under it another flickers on just a ways away. Its a guide.

The lights bright, very bright. But I don't care. I sprint toward each new sign with growing hope. My eyes are dazed and my minds still processing the presence of light in Tartarus. I don't care, there's hieroglyphs here. That means Egyptian magic is somewhere nearby. Its a guide for Egyptians. I really am in the right place.

I feel a smile creep onto my face as I run even harder. My back pack thuds against my back and I start to breath harder but I don't care. I can feel the magic close by. It calls to me. Its waiting. My sword is still grasped tightly in my hand.

The next symbol that flickers to life is over a door. A giant yellow stone door built into a black wall. Its outlined in hieroglyphs and the one at the top of the square doors is glowing. I feel a stirring inside, it feels comforting. Its familiar. I'm mean to be here. This is home.

I've really lost it now. Home is an Egyptian door in the middle of darkness. Its so out of place, just like me. I think that's why I feel so at ease here. Why it feels just right.

I step forward, eager to know more. I'm about five feet away when the air around me shimmers and suddenly I'm standing in an oasis. The doors outlines by leafy green plants. There's warm sand under my feet and the great blue sky above me. I gasp in surprise. A big breath of fresh air enters my lungs. I feel the heat, I can feel the rays of sun pounding against my skin. There's a pool to my right, its as clear as a mirror. A lady sits at the edge, stirring the water with a hand.

"Dang I should have known this was too easy." So close, but I won't be stopped. Its my determination that gives me the courage to ask so bluntly, "Who are you and are the guardian? If so prepare to be defeated because I'm going through that door no matter what." Yeah I'm a bit cocky and she, whoever she is, is probably considering making me spontaneously combust.

The lady turns toward me and I can see her face. Its flawless and tan just like my skin. But her eyes are two endless orbs of mesmerizing blue. She's wearing a white dress and Egyptian jewelry. Even her dark hair is braided with gold strands like I've seen in pictures. Maybe that means she's going to let me through if I'm not Greek or Roman.

"I am Mnemosyne, Lady of Remembrance and Titaness of Memory." She says in a musical voice. It sounds vaguely familiar, like I've heard her talk before.

"If you're a Titan why do you look Egyptian?"

"Because this is your memory." Wait what? My memory? Of Egypt? That makes no sense I was raised on Olympus. "I can feel your memories, there are many joyful ones you ignore. They long to be remembered." She smiles at and I feel my stomach drop. "Remember," she whispers as my world starts to spin.

**Q: Which Titan did Jason defeat?**

**Oh and don't be afraid to PM me if you're confused. I did introduce three new characters. Or you can review, reviews really make my day :)**


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: Goodness I had this chapter planned out in my mind so well, but when I went to write it down it didn't feel right. So I changed it several times over the past two weeks. Today something finally clicked. And not only did I finish this chapter, I wrote another! Which will be posted after I edit.**

RTRfootbal**l-correct! Of course there's a twist. You just have to wait a little longer to get it :) Update has arrived, thank ya!**

**Guest-correct**

**Guest-that's the right giant but not the right Titan.**

**Shyer Elizabeth-I can feel the excitement in your review. I'm sorry about those errors, I've just been so excited to get to the end of the story, to lay it all out for everyone and complete my first book (yeah!) that my editing got kinda sloppy. I think that I have a solution for your missing Leo, read the next chapter ;) one after this one aka chapter 27 I'll post as soon as I finish editing.**

**A Guest-correct**

trustingHim1**7-thank you and correct :)**

TheGlobalFlowe**r-yes! Thank you! Hooray new reader/reviewer. That always makes my day.**

Irisgoddes**s-bonus points for the ram horns!**

**Chapter 26~I Ride the Roller Coaster of Memories**

_I'm in a tunnel of colors. They swirl around me and form images for seconds, long enough for me to recognize my most recent memories, then they spiral away again. Sometimes I catch words._

"_I'll never forget those ten years, even if you did."_

"_I had to try and fix it before I leave."_

_The faces flash before my eyes and I wish I could look away from this all. It just keeps coming._

"_Will you help me on my English homework?"_

"_Christian Sparks meet Mira Pharaoh. Mira meet Christian."_

_"You of all people should have known."_

_Stop it, please. I need something happier. The colors swirl and form a new face with a grin plastered on it._

_"I am the mighty Sadie the Crazy! Queen of Random Awesomeness, you have challenged me. Now you shall face the wrath of my Gingerbread Army and Sugar cookie minions. By the way I stole your sword, and most of your weapons out of your room. And cue the theme song!"_

_She's whisked away by a new face. Her words fade to the sound of Jaz's voice._

"_That's the Mira we know and love. Give her some time to adjust, she'll be just fine." The memory starts to become more concrete, literally. Concrete forms under my feet and buildings rise around me. Warehouses. Jaz fades __back and a ring of monsters appear. I see the backs of two figures._

_Not this memory, please not this._

"_Ten years. Ten years. But then again I didn't expect a Roman to have a heart big enough for loyalty to their friends and their Legion. I hope Juno gives you a medal, or better yet I'll give you one." I feel my arm throw that little gold chain through the air. I watch it fall back to earth and the memory, thankfully, disappears with it._

_I'm not lucky though, another memory takes its place instead. Walls rise around me with columns and thirteen massive thrones with the fire pit in the center. Fourteen figures emerge from fog._

"_Your acting is impressive Mira," Zeus says finally. I frown._

"_It should be, I taught it to her." Apollo said. His gaze is cold, which is super hard for a sun god to pull off. I know then and there I'm in trouble, for what I had no clue._

"_Okay you've got me, now what's going on?" I ask._

"_The secret's out, why would you do that to us? We raised you." Hera looks about ready to cry. Then she shifts to Juno and I can see the hate in her eyes. "You are an enemy of Olympus. Stand down, surrender your weapon, and accept punishment."_

_No, not this. Not this memory. It too dark, too painful, too scary. I want to scream as I see them all transform into their Roman aspects._

_Fight, fight, fight, every inch of my mind begged me. I am a fighter, I will make it out alive. I run for my life. Run to the edge, willing to do whatever. This time I feel the anger deeper. It comes on so suddenly with a tinge of deja vu. Its like the sight of their Roman forms enrages me. What did I do to them?_

_My last option, the edge. I sail out into the open air and fall...and fall...and fall._

_The sky turns darker. But I keep falling. The memory is switching. But before I land in the next one, I have time to realize one thing. Fight, fight, fight. That was the Voice. That was the first time I ever heard it. That sudden burst of anger, the way I was so unattached while it happened. The Voice was egging me on, helping me out, it got me out of that alive. It saved me from Olympus._

_I see colors whirling around me again. They show fragments of other memories. It rewinds through basketball practice, then football games, parties, and high school in general._

"_...and finally number eleven, Mira Pharaoh, will be starting for BAG as point guard." The announcer finishes as the crowd cheers. Just like before their voices are replaced by new voices._

"_Hey, I'm Walt. Nice job in the scrimmage."_

"_I'm Sadie. Someone told me you could help me with my history homework. So explain. Hi by the way."_

"_Nice to meet you Mira! I'm Jaz, the other freshman cheerleader. Welcome to BAG, want to walk with me to my first class? I've got modern performances too."_

_I see all of my other friends come up and introduce themselves one by one. In the hallways, after class, during sports practice. They all go in reverse order. Jaz is one of the last because she was one of the first I met. There's all of my memories with Percy and Emme too._

_The memories of loneliness stand out. My confusion, my want to be around people again. And that strange feeling that I followed into Brooklyn, to a high school with a banner reading 'enrollment starts today!' in bright blue letters._

"_My name's Mira Pharaoh, I'm here to enroll." The secretary's inviting smile as I filled out the paperwork while reciting my made up life story. All the while I was wondering why I chose 'pharaoh' as my last name, it had just popped into my head._

_Then its dark again. I've stopped spinning and I'm in another memory. "We've got a very special guest today, from Olympus." A young but commanding voice announces. I set out into the torch light. I'm the Legion's Dining Hall. The tables and couches border the middle, which is decorated like a dance floor. Everyone looks up at me and I try not to look for the one person I recognize. Jason and Reyna come to stand next to me._

"_This is Mira, my younger sister...sort of." Jason goes on to explain my unique situation to the Legion. Occasionally I add a word or two to clarify. __He's barely managed to wrap his mind around it and I told him yesterday. He holds up the fourteen letters of recommendation that I brought as proof. The Legion cheers for me and I'm introduced to a horde of new people. I switch tables every two minutes to meet new people. I finally reach the last table after about an hour._

"_Mira!" Reyna calls me away from the sons of Mars who wanted to arrange a training session with me. I excuse myself and cross the open floor to reach her. Jason walks into the Dining Hall, dragging another blond haired boy behind him._

"_Legion!" Reyna shouts to get their attention as the two boys make their way to join us. I try not to grin as I make brief eye contact with the second. "This celebration has two opposite purposes."_

"_One was to welcome an honored guest from Olympus who we hope will visit frequently." Jason continues._

"_The other is to honor a Legionnaire who has completed his ten years of service in addition to several quests and who has also served as Praetor for several years. We hope you will visit frequently as well Christian, since New Rome is a lot closer than Mount Olympus." Reyna finishes. Christian grins at her._

"_Are you afraid you'll have no one to help you out when Octavian goes crazy?" He teases her. She groans._

"_Don't remind us that the only one he listens to is you." Reyna pleads._

"_No worries, I've got several good reasons to come visit." Then he raises his voice and shouts, "Lares, start the music." Ghosts appear with instruments and start up on a fairly modern love song. Jason and Reyna start to slow dance on our right. Christian gives me a slight bow and then offers me his hand. My heart skips a few beats with his old fashioned gentleman routine. I put my hand in his and let him pull me in close. We start to sway back in forth._

"_Several good reasons, and one great one." He tells me. I blush a little and laugh. "I can't believe I retire and you join the Legion."_

"_I'm an honored guest, there's a difference." I remind him._

"_Yeah, like no trench digging, your own quarters, oh and the respect of the whole Legion without doing anything. I'm sure you'll find a way to demonstrate you're awe inspiring fighting skills by tomorrow." He looks down at me and I realize for the first time he's actually several inches taller than me. I've never really gotten this close when we're not in a battle._

"_You know I've already done my trench digging time."_

"_So do you think you'll be around a lot more, now that you know, you're officially introduced and the War's over?"_

"_I hope so," I tell him happily. In my mind I'm calculating how often I can slip away from Camp Half Blood to be at the Legion. There's no way I can pick just one. Christian and Jason are here but Percy and Nico are there. I spend a lot of time with Percy and Nico outside of Camp since its switched __to just all year rounders. I can probably give the Legion most of my weekends after school gets out on Friday, plus any time I don't spend with Percy or at school. I'll have to put in an occasional appearance at Camp Half Blood but they won't expect me to be year round._

"_Tomorrow I'm heading to San Francisco with a group. It'll be Gwen, Dakota, Jason, Reyna, and two others I think. It'd be nice if I wasn't the odd man out for once..."_

"_Is that an invitation?" I ask jokingly. I know exactly what he means, except for the last part. "The answer's yes. But odd man out?"_

"_Well we split up last time and Jason and Reyna ditched me to be alone."_

"_Are they together yet?"_

"_Any day now. Anyways I was thinking about some pay back. Want to ditch with me?" My brain stops functioning for a moment. It turns back on with a burst of excitement._

"_Heck yeah," I tell him happily. Then he dissolves into mist before my eyes. The rest of the room does too. Once again I'm left alone. Not for long, there's so many memories._

_My week at Camp Half Blood. Lots of faces and lots of names. Finally meeting Percy and Nico._

_Suddenly I'm wrapped gently in someone's arms._

"_You're alive, and unhurt." He's hugging me tightly now. Its shortly after the Titan War. We're standing on a hilltop under the moon. I feel like Artemis might be watching, and disapproving, but I don't care. I hug him back._

"_You too." There's a moment of silence. "We won," I tell him as he pulls back. I feel like my grin's pretty cheesy but I'm too happy to not be grinning._

"_We won," he says while mimicking my idiotic grin. Only I think it looks rather good on him. "Will you join the Legion now?"_

"_As soon as my parents let me," I tell him. Its the same answer to the same question. Those words haven't changed in ten years. Sometimes the question varies to, 'will you join today?' or 'how soon till you join the Legion?'._

"_I hate that answer." He tells me. I can't help but laugh. "Who'd you fight?" For the next hour we exchange stories of the war. He describes his fights down to the last detail. I do the same for mine. I tell him I got behind part of the Titan Army and was taking them out from behind. I did, only I leave out the place. It was in Manhattan. Then I tell him I tried to defend Neptune's palace when he left to help the other gods. I wasn't fast enough to stop all the damage, but I did manage to get there in time to distract Oceanus. I wouldn't have lasted much longer than I did against him but I was just a distraction. He retreated to the depths when the Olympians defeated Typhoon._

_He starts going off about the Legion's celebration, which apparently hasn't finished yet. I missed the Olympian's party, I slept through it. One does not simply fight a Titan. Plus all of Camp Half Blood was there and they still don't know about me._

"_Oh that reminds me, we forgot to celebrate your birthday." I didn't celebrate it either, I was too busy prepping for the war. "Happy birthday," He pulls something small out of his pocket. Its chain with a single charm on it, a sun surrounded by rays. He reaches over and clips it around my left ankle. He pulls two dog tags out from under his shirt and shows me the outline of the sun in one of them. "I cut it out of these. They were the trophies from the first time we fought together."_

"_I remember. Thanks, that's amazing."_

_He smiles happily at me, we're content with the silence for a while._

"_Are you into artsy stuff?"_

"_Recently, yeah. I actually learned to play guitar not too long ago."_

"_Will you play for me?" I ask eagerly._

"_Someday. I want to fight right now." He gets to his feet and pulls me up too. "Unless you're sick of fighting."_

"_No way! Come on, lets go find the monsters that weren't killed in the war, there's gotta be some left." As we run down the hill he fades again. Its just a memory, I kinda wish it really was him here. He's not like that anymore, and I'm not like that either._

_The colors start to appear again. The next memories all come at me rapidly. The war, the fights, the weeks of surveillance knowing that the war would come soon, that month where I hadn't seen Christian at all, my uncelebrated birthday that passed without me realizing it. There's memories of training with each Olympian, the switch every single month, the two days a year where I had to try and equally divide my time between all of them. Those days were the hardest. I had to count to make sure I balance compliments and time spent with each god. I couldn't take a side in any arguments but I couldn't act like I didn't care at all._

_I watch myself grown younger, shrink down. I see my fighting skills undevelope as I travel back to a time when I didn't know all the moves. When I was still learning. There's the months of nights spent with Chiron deep in the woods. I stayed at CHB, invisible, for one month every single year since Dionysus was there. There's the months of singing the top ten hits of the year with Apollo. The first time I flew, the first time I breathed underwater, the first time I shadow traveled, all those memories are there._

_Everything rewinds. As I shrink and watch myself as I make mistakes and learn new skills. Sometimes I cringe at the mistakes, sometimes I laugh that I was once that awful. Awful compared to what I am now, I was probably still stellar for however old I was. My gymnastics are the worst, I've forgotten some of the worst mistakes I made while teaching myself. I always see myself get back up, determined to try again and do better. I see myself excited to learn new things, happy to make the Olympians proud, and absolutely thrilled to take on a challenge. My personality is always outspoken and determined. I'm glad that doesn't change._

_I watch Christian and I. That's where I notice the most changes. Watching in reverse I realize that every time I fought with him I did something different. Sometimes even our conversations changed me. All that extra practice time really helped. I taught him the moves I learned from Mars and Ares (just Mars to him) and he helped me perfect them. As the years turn back I watch myself become less trusting. Our bonds and relationship of trust we're strengthened so much by the years spent together. I see myself at age eight, I check over my shoulder every minute to make sure he's still there. He does the same thing. My visits grow less frequent, my vocabulary and knowledge shrink even more._

_I talk more when we fight together as I get younger. We don't have the same mutual understanding of what will happen when. I can't just look at his positioning and tell what he's thinking or what he's planning. We don't have the signals we used, we don't have the words we used, in fact, we don't even have organized attack plans. Much less the names of those that we changed every time we used them to make sure the monsters would never know what was coming._

_There is one thing that never changes though. Its our willingness. The way we _do _adjust to each other. The way we _do _try to get better together. The way I _do _want and try to trust him. I may not have trusted him when I was young, but I did trust him some. And even as kids I can see the way our fighting styles compliment each other when we really try to work together. They're sloppy and basic fighting styles, its a miracle we were never killed, but that doesn't matter. Its us together. Its our friendship. Its something we've had all those nights in the Berkeley Hills, even from the first night._

"_Follow me," I hiss with a hand over his mouth. The area around us is black since the lights are out but I know its a standard room in the barracks. Which means there's other soldiers sleeping. I drag Christian out of bed __and get us out somewhere where we can talk without being heard._

"_Are you going to join the Legion now?" I shake my head. "Why are you here?"_

"_I couldn't sleep and wanted to practice my shadow traveling. I just came here. I guess you were on my mind."_

"_Great, I can and want to sleep."_

"_Why don't we do something fun instead?"_

"_Like...?"_

"_Just head out into the Hills and see what comes our way."_

"_You're crazy!"_

"_Are you afraid Christian Sparks? Legionnaires aren't supposed to have fear, especially not of a fight." I try to bait him into coming with me. It works._

"_How'd you know my name?"_

"_Heard someone say it earlier. Now c'mon Christian Sparks, tell me the future Praetor of the Twelfth Roman Legion is not afraid of a little monster hunt in the dark?"_

"_Only if the psycho girl whose request I'm putting up with isn't gonna go __running off to her mommy when I show her how I kick monster butt."_

"_It is ON Sparky."_

"_If you call me Sparky again..."_

"_Do you have a weapon? And a rope?" He silently creeps back to his room and returns a moment later. "Lets go Sparky. By the way, you're crazy too if you're actually going to go through with this."_

"_I can't let you be crazy alone, you might get hurt." The memory fades as my laughter fills the air. That wasn't the first time we fought together, that was just the second. Our connection goes back even farther. All the way back to the first time I fought with him._

_That memory doesn't flash by. It presents itself in bold, bright color. It's been a short week after my first time in Berkeley. A week that really hadn't changed much about me. I was just more aware of the fact that my siblings had very violent tempers when they're appearances changed to the Roman form. And more determined not to ever be scared of that again._

_Mars finishes the tour of the Legion, all invisible of course. We fly over New Rome in his chariot to see it since the Pomeranian Line is strong on the ground. He shows me the entrance of the Caldecott Tunnel. From the air we can see the two black shapes moving through highway traffic toward the entrance. The little sentries move around a bit, I think they're drawing their weapons_

"_Those sentries are pitiful." Mars squints at it and acts as if he can see __everything from up here. He probably can. There is a hope growing in my heart of a challenge. "Show them how its done." I'm all too happy to oblige. We fly lower and he parks his chariot on the edge of the road and lets me jump out. A glowing scroll had appears in his hand and he tells me he'll be right back. This is a real challenge, a real fight without anyone supervising._

_Most kids are taught to run away from danger. I run towards it. There's two hellhounds fighting two sentries. The archer has already stuck a few arrows in the smaller hell hound. The other one appears to be waiting for the hell hound to attack. Mars is right, they are pitiful. You do not fight hell hounds in a close range unless you're agile and quick. The sentry's stance is wrong to move quickly. He'll be knocked down in a few seconds._

_Neither of them notice me run up behind the large one and jump up to grab its tail. The monster swings around to see who's behind it. I hold its tail for dear life. Then I climb up it and balance on its back. It sees me and growls. I grab my medallion and feel it transform to my sword. It's head swivels around when an arrow appears in its ear. I use the archer's distraction to run up and plunge my sword in the beast's neck. I turn a back flip as it disintegrates beneath me and clutch my necklace. I close my eyes tightly and try to picture myself floating. When I open my eyes I find myself an inch off the ground and sinking slowly. My focus breaks and I drop down to the ground. That was a close call._

_The other hell hound is on top of the sentry with the sword. The archer is firing away rapidly but he can't get a clear shot at its neck or eye. The monsters thick fur and layers of muscle that protect its organs probably don't help either._

_I think if I can give him a good shot he'll take it. I'll still play it on the safe side. So I slip an extra knife out of my pocket and stomp forward. With a high pitched yell I kick the monster in the ankle and then slash with my sword. It turns and pounces. I see movement out of the corner of my eye. I still move to the right to be in a position where I could defend myself if the archer misses._

_He doesn't. The monster disintegrates on top of me and I cough as dust fills my lungs. I wade out of the dust and observe the other sentry, unconscious on the ground. Two metal dog tags glint in the dust. I pick them up and toss them to the archer with a grin._

"_Can you keep a secret Christian?"_

"_Are you a goddess?" He bows a little and I try not to laugh. While that annoys me its funny at the same time. He looks scared out of his wits. I take two steps toward him and lightly punch his arm to get him to stop._

"_Nope, just a very special demigod."_

"_One of these is yours." He says, holding up the tags. I shake my head._

"_The Legion can't know I'm here. You've got to promise you won't tell. Swear on the Styx."_

"_I swear," he says quickly. "But what about the trophy?"_

"_Keep it."_

"_Will you come back? Will you join the Legion someday?"_

"_Probably...someday."_

"_If you do you've got to be on my side for the War Games, we make a good team." I grin in agreement. I see a streak in the sky, a streak of red. I have to go meet Mars wherever he lands._

"_Bye Christian."_

"_Bye Mira." I look at him once more as I turn to leave. Then I grin and wave before running out into the highway. The blur of high speed cars is the last thing I remember from that memory. I watch the others blur by as well. The first day I met Christian, when Mars scared me almost to tears. My earliest childhood memories seem kind of blurry but they're clearer than I've ever remembered them before._

"_Mommy, why am I the only one here who doesn't fit in?" It was pretty obvious I was out of place, even as a kid._

"_You were placed here for a reason, someday we'll know that reason." Hera promises._

_The memories go all the way back to me laying in a cradle with faces leaning over me asking questions. They say something about a gift from someone. I was half asleep so I had no clue really what they were saying. The memories turn back to the colors. And then its all gone. I'm in the darkness._

When I open my eyes I'm alone. Mnemosyne is gone. I'm glad, she's just one of those creepy mythological characters you try to avoid. The oasis is gone too. I frown, she said it was my memory but I never saw one like that. I wonder if I missed it. Maybe she was lying.

At least the door's still here. I get to my feet and check to make sure I've still got a sword and my back pack. Now or never I guess. The hieroglyphs all flicker to life when I place my hand on the door frame. They glow brightly, and then create a single frame of light. The images shimmers like a waterfall then shows pictures. The beginnings of Greece and Rome and before both of those, there was Egypt. The images fade and I see a misty dark place full of symbols that float about. Its warm and smells like the desert. I reach out and can put my hand into it.

The darkest part of Tartarus is linked to the Duat. Who knew? It makes sense. Egypt was first so of course there's a connection. The mortals still have a connection to Egypt as well. The image of the Duat fades to just darkness. I frown and think about the connection, the image of mist and symbols come back but there's something else beyond the door. Something that's still physically present in Tartarus but in the Duat.

I step through and find a room.

**Q: List the colors of the walls from the Hall of Ages in order from oldest to youngest. Bonus points for giving the name of the age!**


	27. Chapter 27

**I meant for this to be up a lot sooner. Sorry guys but I ended up rewriting most of it when I edited and then my teachers started piling on reviews and study guides for finals this week...so here it is!**

**Kalifornia-dang, correct!**

**Shyer Elizabeth-well duh he's the enemy! But if you're talking Rome I do believe I've mentioned she had similar feelings right before her world got ripped apart...anyways thank you. Couple name? I've thought about Chrisira but that sounds like a name...oh well lets see what you come up with. I'm sorry this took a while! Ahhh grammar, my mortal enemy. Well keep reading.**

**A Guest-correct!**

**Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Red, Purple**

**Shalalalalalala-no worries that was one of the harder questions. You did get a couple from memory so good for you!**

**This chapter starts right after the last Leo PoV left off. Enjoy.**

Chapter 27~White Crocs like Bacon

Leo PoV

My brain stops functioning for a what I consider an hour. Her's apparently has too. I'm kinda amazed she remembered my name. "Hi," we both blurt out at the same time.

"Why is it that the two times I've run into you, you've jumped over something and almost hit me?" I wonder aloud. She blushes a little.

"In my defense only crazy people go to that Starbucks and I couldn't exactly see you behind the truck bed. Plus looking out for you wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind."

"It should be, not only am I very important and worth remembering, next time you might actually hit me! Imagine, you jump over a box and crash into me, giving me a concussion and quite possibly killing me." Jaz tries really hard to not laugh at me.

"I'm pretty good with First Aid. I bet I could save you."

"You'd better, it would be your fault otherwise."

"Well then I'll start looking before I leap. But you should start watching the sky. It will be half your fault if I jump on top of you next time."

"My fault? I'm just an innocent bystander!" I protest. She grins and then leans back against the truck. She looks exhausted. I can see a dullness in her eyes that looks out of place. For the first time I notice her breathing isn't right, it's like shes gasping for air.

"We should probably get off this bridge." I tell her. Actually _she_ needs to get off this bridge. I've got a monster to fight and some friends to find.

"You're right," she says. "Just give me a moment to catch my breath." She pushes her ponytail over her shoulder and I see the ends are somewhat singed. I wonder just what she's been through.

"Are you alright?" I ask.

"I look awful don't I?" She states. I look away. You do not ever tell a girl she looks awful. Especially one at Camp Half Blood...but still, mortal girls react similarly. Just without the horrible curses, over the top pranks, and apologies made at weapon point.

"Umm..."

"Yep, thought so. Alright let's go now. Before any other cars decide to spontaneously combust." I get to my feet and offer her a hand. The instant we touch a vibration runs through the bridge. She locks eyes with me and frowns. There's worry etched on her face. I pull her to her feet, my eyes scanning the bridge for a disturbance. I let go of her hand and start fiddling with mine. I feel the need to move around and do something. My ADHD is acting up, that's never good. It means I'm prepared for a fight, its almost like a sixth sense at times.

"Leo, you-I mean we need to get off this bridge. _Now."_ I'm not paying attention to her words. I've spotted the monster. Its a giant of some kind with lots of tattoos and a not-too-friendly look to it. I think they're name starts with an 'l' but I've never been good at naming monsters. Jaz grabs my hand and tugs me toward Brooklyn. Toward the monster. I think she's lost it in her panic and the Mist is totally blocking these images from her mind. She must be overloaded. So I pull us back a step and we end up in a weird tug of war in what I somehow know is the exact center of the bridge.

There's a sound of metal under stress and cracking concrete as we pull against each other. Our eyes are locked in some weird sort of pleading game. She wants me to go her way off the bridge. For a split second I feel a compulsion to follow her. But I can still see the giant out of the corner of my eye. That alone keeps me fighting against her, trying to pull her my way. I can feel her giving in, her strengths ebbing. I don't know why she's fighting so hard but I'll win.

One second I'm holding her hand marveling that she's as strong as I am. The next second is filled with the horrible sound of metal breaking under stress. Pulling apart and pulling apart until it snaps. The bridge rocks like a roller coaster. My hand is wretched out of her grip, or maybe its her hand that's wretched out of my grip. Visible cracks appear in the concrete under our feet. Shouts and roars become the background music of this treacherous roller coaster ride.

The bridge falls apart before my eyes. Its my ADHD that saves me. I jump back as the first piece of concrete falls away, where I was a moment ago. To her credit, Jaz doesn't scream. Calmly she backs up quickly, dancing over the cracks as chunks on her side of the bridge start to shift down, and then fall. I take a few more steps without realizing it, when she meets my eyes again we're about five feet apart.

We stand at the edge of the hole. She risks a look down at the river. My eyes are transfixed on the giant on her side of the bridge. We can't stay here, and yet I don't want to tell her to get off the bridge if she has to go past the giant.

I need help. I glance over my shoulder, hoping to see an unoccupied demigod. Through a haze of smoke I see a battle.

The demigods have engaged a new group of monsters without me. I can see things flying about in Percy's hurricane. Monsters crying out in pain without a demigod nearby, courtesy of an invisible Annabeth no doubt. Piper's beautifully entrancing dance that isn't working so well on these monsters. Thalia's standing at a distance, firing electrically charged arrows that unfortunately aren't doing much good either. Grover's doing...something. And Nico is leading a skeletal SWAT team. Jason's hovering the in air, diving down and slashing before retreating to a higher altitude.

Brooklyn is definitely the better option. "Leo move!" She warns. I leap back a foot as the bridge continues to break.

"Hey Jaz, stay safe okay? Get off the bridge. It will be alright." I think I sound like Jason. I sound in control and reassuring. Hopefully she believes me and she'll be able to stroll past the monster without even worrying. I hope for her sake she doesn't see or remember anything. She just might need therapy after.

"Leo?" She asks with a glance behind me. "You too. Stay safe." Jaz bites her lip and looks over her shoulder. A haze of smoke is accumulating over there as well. I can see a few cars on fire and some teetering over the edge of the bridge. "Maybe we can meet up after this craziness. You know, so we know each other is alright."

"Jaz this has advanced beyond craziness to chaos. But I'll take you up-"

"_Chaos_." She says cutting me off. "Stick around the bridge, I'll come find you in a few minutes. Bye Leo!" She turns and runs away. "Sadie!" Jaz screams as she dodges cars. "_Order_!" I watch her run for a moment before realizing I've got a fight to help with. Its a lot easier for me to navigate the bridge. I run straight through piles of flames and jump over burning cars with ease.

I cough as the smoke gets in my lungs. I squint through it, looking for a battle to join. The first person I see is Percy. He's the only demigod who appears to have success against these weird monsters. He's not exactly killing them, but he is wounding them.

"Leo look out!" I recognize Piper's voice from somewhere off to my right before I hit from behind. I feel like I just got trampled by a pro football team. I roll once across the asphalt and then manage to fling my arms out and stop myself. I get to my feet feeling kinda dizzy and stare at the monster in front of me.

"Since when are crocodiles white?" I ask. Sure enough its an albino crocodile that doesn't look very friendly.

"Just shut up and fight it!" Thalia groans from somewhere else in the smoke cloud.

I don't shoot back a witty reply because I do have to fight it. I jump over its white tail which flings around at me. Its red eyes focus on me and it opens is big mouth revealing some pretty scary teeth. It roars at me and I smell bacon. I respond by shooting a handful of fire at it. I barely miss its mouth. The crocodile reals back then clamps its mouth shuts and narrows its eyes. I think I made it mad.

It moves faster than a massive croc should be able to. I jump to the side and blast its body with fire. A gold shimmer appears around it for a moment and the fire burns out. Its like the animal is shielded. It swings its tail again and I dive right this time. I get back to my feet and try to think. I don't have much time to plan because it comes at me again. This time I aim the fire at its face. That doesn't do any good either.

Think Valdez. There's got to be a way to beat it. I keep moving and throwing fire, trying to buy myself some time. Its got to have a weak point. Like the Curse of Achilles. I remember sitting around the camp fire while Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson told all of Percy's stories. The guy never had a dull moment. There's one story I remember now, the Nemean Lion. Bulletproof on the outside but vulnerable on the inside.

I have to dodge its tail again and I barely miss getting caught in its jaws. This monster is really keeping me on my toes. I cough again as smoke gets stuck in my throat. My thought process never leaves the Nemean Lion. Now I think I've got a plan.

The way the croc responded when I almost shot fire down its throat. Maybe its not fireproof on the inside. I need to get its mouth open, but how? This isn't your average, dumb monster.

I grin as an idea comes to mind. I reach into my belt with one hand as I say a single word. An all important, life changing, supreme word. This is what I consider food of the gods.

"Bacon." Several uncooked strips of meat appear in my belt. I fish them out and toast them in my hand. I'm just glad Thalia's not watching. I'd probably be renamed the Human Skillet or something equally lame.

"Hey bacon breath! Breakfast is served." Unoriginal, yes but I'm trying to stay alive. Not produce Oscar worthy insults. I toss the bacon at its head. I watch its eyes switch to the flying strips of tasty goodness. Then it opens its mouth wide to gobble the strips down. Along with a massive fireball that I launch right after the bacon. Its jaw clamps hut and its eyes widen. Instead of crumbling to dust, like I expected, it starts to sweat white paint.

It's really gross and weird sight. What's weirder is how its shrinking. Then it hits me, the thing's melting. In a few seconds all that's left in front of me is a disfigured white wax model of a very ugly crocodile in a puddle of murky white. I pick it up by the tail, almost afraid that it will bite me. Its nothing more than a sculpture now.

I drop it into a pocket in my tool belt. I stumble out of the smoke toward the exit of the bridge. I can hear sirens far away. "We need to finish fast!" Jason shouts somewhere in front of me. I cough again as I exit the smoke cloud. I turn around and see how massive it is now. The entire bridge is covered by a haze. The Mist really is covering this from the mortal's eyes. The bridge continues to groan from the stress. Every now and then there's a massive splash as another chunk of it falls into the river.

The bridge is has really become a battle field. There's a haze of monster dust from the monsters that actually did disintegrate. The rest are still locked in battle with the demigods. I join in the chaos.

I hop from one battle to the next. The monsters that don't disintegrate eventually get wounded enough to stumble away or just fall down. Thalia stubbornly tries to kill one. She runs out of arrows. Thalia fires every single last one leaving a monster that looks like a porcupine with silver quills. It turns and runs away from her.

"Die stupid monster!" Thalia shouts.

"That's probably not the best thing to be proclaiming when we look like this." Piper points out, and she's right.

We look like a teenage gang. Our clothes are tattered and everyone looks exhausted. Piper's hair is tangled up, Thalia's silver huntress jacket lays shredded on the ground, there's a singed patch of hair on Grover's hairy legs, and Annabeth has a black eye forming. Our weapons are in plain sight and Thalia just shouted a death threat. We'll probably be arrested in five minutes.

"Woah," Nico says as he glances back at the river. "Leo did you do that?" The smoke clouds gone and the horrible noises have stopped. There's still a massive section of the bridge missing. The rest looks stable and the cars have all stopped burning.

"Ares' bloody electric spear!" Thalia exclaims. "What did you do, light a gas truck on fire and throw some dynamite in for good measure?!"

"No, there was an explosion." I say. The memory's kinda hazy even though its minutes old. "Not me, someone else. And this mortal girl. I helped her up and then bridge just broke."

"Well I guess the Fates have decided it goes against destiny for Leo to even be able to interact with a girl." Jason jokes. Everyone but Percy laughs. Its dies out soon, everyone's out of breath.

"Very funny Grace. Remind me to toast you like a marshmallow when we get back to Camp."

"Why not right now?" Jason asks.

"Because you look pathetic, you're weak, and those monster could come back at any minute." The speaker is a teenage guy about Percy's height with a golden bow slung across a shoulder. He's wearing a basketball jersey with athletic shorts and high tops. Ear buds and a lanyard dandle out of one of his pockets. Plus he's got a tattoo to match Jason's, a harp with ten lines and four letters.

"Christian?" Jason asks.

"Long time no see Grace." Christian walks up to join our huddle. "Here," he pulls a package of ambrosia out of his pocket and tosses it to Piper. She unzips the little baggie and grabs two pieces of what looks like fudge before passing it on.

"Guys this is Christian Sparks, son of Apollo, he was Praetor before me. These guys are-" Jason's introductions get cut off when Christian barges in.

"Thalia, Nico, Grover, Leo, Piper, and Percy." Christian answers while pointing us out. "I did recon for Reyna while you were hanging in Rome. We need to get back. Those things will reappear soon."

"What were they?" Thalia asks.

"I don't know, I'd need a closer look." Annabeth answers. Christian nods in response to her answer. My hand reaches for my tool belt. That disfigured wax crocodile. My hand hovers over the pocket before dropping back to my side. I'll show them later.

"Why are you here?" Jason asks. "Wait don't you live here?"

"A bit farther away. I'm actually the messenger. The victory celebration is tonight. I'm rounding everybody up. So we'd better be getting back."

"Right, well lets not be late to the party." I say while rubbing my hands together.

"Leo's got his priorities straight." Thalia snickers. Then she glances at Percy and shuts up. "It won't be any fun without ya Kelp Head." Percy steps back away from the group even farther and shakes his head.

"I'm not going back there, not willingly."

"But the party's for you too." Grover protests. "Come on Percy. We're not going to celebrate a party in honor of the Seven with just six."

"Right. Nico, want to be my stand in?" There's a glimmer of humor in his green eyes. Nico shakes his head.

"I can't be you Percy." Nico says sadly. "Come back? We're a threesome. A trio."

"You can't just leave me with Death Breath!" Thalia protests. "That's cruel and unusual punishment." I notice Jason flinching away as they blatantly ignore him. Piper shifts awkwardly from one foot to another and I feel left out too. There's something important we missed out on. The memories, the quests, the jokes, and the nicknames.

"Percy, I don't think I'll survive being around Pinecone Face without you." Nico states with worry. The three of them share a grin. For a moment I feel like Percy's going to come back.

"Dude, Tyson and I will miss you too. Any no body else will listen to me play my reed pipes! Thalia destroyed my last set while we were searching for you." Thalia snickers even harder and Percy looks like he's trying not to laugh.

Christian silently shifts toward Jason, Piper, and I. He's not in on this either. We've formed two groups now, the new and the old. With Annabeth in the no-man's land in between.

She looks back at us and then takes a step forward. "We're family Percy. We stick together. Please come back, I'm so sorry-" Percy's grin fades faster than the speed of light.

"For what? Pushing me away maybe. Not for killing Mira. Because you know what Annabeth? You joined Hera's family. The perfect 'goody goody' image where you just do as she says and everything works out perfectly well. Where no matter how awful your deeds are you get a fairytale ending. Did you even think to stop and listen to her Wise Girl? I know you always question things, but you just accepted what happened. What happened to the girl I knew who wasn't afraid to stand up to Hera? Or or the girl in Labyrinth who debated the Sphinx about not getting a riddle? That was a girl I was proud to call part of my family. Now you've ripped my family apart."

"Percy, Mira isn't part-" Annabeth tries to explain something but Percy explodes.

"You don't even miss her! She didn't make the cut and you were all too happy to cut her out of the picture. I could feel the hate the other night. But why? What did she do to you? When did you just give up? You know the gods never gave up on their kids, not even on Luke. Hermes offered him forgiveness until he passed the point of no return. Think about it! Ask the questions! Tell me when you stopped thinking! When did you stop being Annabeth and start being...a weapon!"

"Percy-" Jason tries to pull his attention away from Annabeth who looks about ready to cry.

"You're one too Jason. The Legion first, and family second. I know I'm right. You'll never even feel anything so long as it was your duty to kill her. Just another traitor, just another order, just another day. Fight a war, spill some blood, train for battle, and repeat. You're life's stuck in a rut. You're not even a person. You do exactly as you told every single time. And you'll do it over and over again and you'll never ask questions. Did it ever occur to you to talk to her? Oh wait it was forbidden and Romans shalt not break the rules."

"There was evidence. She-"

"No!" Percy bellows. The river sloshes behind us and starts to churn. I gulp and look back at the verbal battle that's taking place. "You didn't give her a chance to explain so you don't get one either. You don't deserve one." Percy turns on heel and walks toward river. I see rolling waves taking shape.

"You can't just turn you're back on us-"

"Watch me. By the way Thalia, Nico, Grover, would you keep an eye out for Annabeth? And let her know when you find her, tell my Wise Girl that I'll be waiting for her return. You guys know where to find me." He finishes his rant before performing a dive worthy of the Olympics into the river. We stand there in silence for a good minute.

"There was undoubted evidence, and I'm not a weapon." Jason says grumpily. "Are we just going to sit around and wait for police officers to come arrest us?" Sure enough there's a symphony of sirens growing closer.

"He didn't say he knew Annabeth's name." Piper tells Jason. She doesn't phrase it as a question but we all know its one. Annabeth walks off without answering. Christian follows but everyone else hesitates to hear the answer.

"Annabeth realized I was Roman before we returned Piper. Mainly because when the quest to catch Mira came up...she was asked to assist Christian. He lead the search. I don't think he's recovered from that fiasco yet. He does a better job of hiding his emotions than Percy."

Christian glances back at us but his gaze goes over our group to the skyline of Brooklyn. Piper looks and frowns.

"They were close. Weren't they?"

"Do children of Aphrodite have like a love radar?" I ask her. She glares at me and I shut up.

"He was going to ask her to the Solstice Dance in New Rome the next time she showed up at Camp. That's when I went missing. I don't think he ever got the chance."

**Q:What was the one statue Nico didn't have in his Mythomagic game?**

**Guys we're getting really, really, really close! Keep reading :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**AN: As of now I am on Summer Break! And I'm sorry but that doesn't mean a promise of faster updates cuz my summer's almost as busy as my school year...yeah well here's the chatper**

psychicamazingness223-thank you. Hopefully I can clarify soon. Don't be afraid to PM me asking for an answer to a question. And yah for another new reviewer (I think, correct me if I'm wrong)

A Guest-correct!

KanjiofRai-yeppers. Oh Rick, he likes to do stuff like that.

Shyer Elizabeth-thanks. I take it you liked the chapter. You keep working on that name and I'll keep writing.

Guest-actually I wanted to see if anyone would comment on that because when I thought out the chapter and really thought about it I decided smoke and fire kill you in different ways. Fire consumes your body and smoke blocks oxygen from your lungs. I thought being fire proof and being able to smoke would be two different things. I'll have to reread some Leo chapters and see if I can find an answer to that.

Ramise-yes!

RTRfootball-yes. Hmmm, like a prequel almost? Or more like a deleted scenes kinda thing? I've thought about writing companion stories once this is done. To fill in some blanks and elaborate on things that got cut down. Such as Ch. 26. The original version of that chapter was soooooo much longer and I had to cut a lot because it was so long. I just got caught up in writing Mira's past memories when she was happier and a bit spunkier and next thing I knew I had a couple thousand extra words...

PjoHP-yes.

Shalalalalalala-yes. They will! Just, gahhhh I'm sorry but be patient. Trust me, I've been dieing to write it and post it but the story must go in order.

Phoenixrangers-yeppers! Coolio, new reviewer!

Bilboardcrabs-correct! Update has arrived.

Sorry that username is taken-you went there...challenge accepted. My wombat is furrier than yours! Silly you everyone knows Llamas don't make pancakes because they're afraid of spatulas. Obviously making the pancakes is the elephant's job, duh. My sister's rainbow unicorn pillow pet-your argument is invalid

trustingHim17-gotcha I'll work on that! Correct.

**Chapter 28~I Finally See the Light...Oh the Irony**

**Mira PoV**

Its empty inside. Its dark, but this is a warm darkness as opposed to Tartarus. I turn around and see the shimmery curtain behind me hasn't faded at all. Across from me there's a big window covered by white silk curtains. I walk over to one of the walls and squint at it. I run my fingers over its uneven surface. The top layer's been chipped away in a hurry. There's still traces of paint. Bright colors on faded yellow stone, it seems so new and yet extremely old. There's piles of stone, wood, and other substances just laying about on the floor. It looks like a tornado came through here and destroyed the inside.

The floor has a pattern of little lines sticking up. I kneel down and finger those too. I think the floor was once tiled but now its been ripped up and destroyed. Its all so important, but why? I never expected this to be straightforward, I didn't think I'd be assembling an ancient room like a jigsaw puzzle though. That's what this all is. Some big game, a life sized puzzle. I've been give all the pieces but I have to be the one to put them all together. The memories, my feelings, the Voice, and my questions. There's an explanation, it doesn't have to be logical. It just has to be real.

I get up and walk to the window. A breeze parts the curtains and I see darkness outside. There's an outline of a landscape, but its night. I gasp when I find that I can look up at the stars. They twinkle above me, glowing for real. Where is this? This absolutely can not be Tartarus anymore. I don't feel like it's Egypt. Somewhere else. I wish I could see but there's no light outside except the stars, not even the moon. I look straight down and see its a ways to the ground. Then I look up and see a few more levels above me. I think I'm in some kind of palace. But what kind of palace has a direct link to Tartarus?

I sit back down on the floor and stare at the walls for a while. It feels familiar. I stare at the walls for a little longer before I realize that I do recognize it. "Hi-nehm." I command as I get to my feet. The piles on the floor spring to life. Colorful chips of paint rise into the air and race around, finding their own little niche. Sharp shards of glass hurtle through the air like projectiles. I step back as a piece of blue tile forces my foot back to settle in its spot. I watch as the puzzle assembles itself from my memory. I dance around as the tile pieces try to settle in around my feet.

It reminds me of a lot more dangerous version of dodge ball. The last few pieces buzz around the room once before settling into their places. I was hoping for a great moment of clarity, where everything suddenly becomes clear. Instead I found myself staring at the wall again. It was painted with hieroglyphs. Rows upon rows of hieroglyphs.

There's wooden and stone furniture embellished with gold place around the room. The drawers and doors are all open and I notice what looks like a fortune's worth of jewelry and clothes inside. They shimmer like a mirage, they're not really there. There's cosmetic jars and combs laying on top and beautifully framed mirrors. There's little statues and elegant carvings. Then in the middle now, there's a stand. Its draped with white silk and it has a curtain hanging about it. I slide the curtain open and there's an empty pedestal. A flash of gold appears for a moment and fades. A memory of something that was once there. I know its important, I know I've been here before. But I don't know anything else.

I run my hand over the pedestal, hoping that something, anything will happen. I scan the hieroglyphs, hoping for the same thing. More magic, more memories, something. I notice there's one part that's still missing paint. It couldn't have been bigger than a sheet of notebook paper. With all the little rows of hieroglyphs it could have been an entire life story.

I sigh and start to read what's left instead. I walk around the room. Starting on the ceiling and then spiraling down, I read the entire story of Egypt. It wraps all the wall around the room, sometimes even on the floor. And I come back to the blank spot. Its right after Nectanebo II flees Egypt. It never tells how his life ended. Just like the pedestal, the empty spot flashes with color for a single second. A memory of what was there.

So close, and so far. The mystery still lives. I bite my lip as I feel frustration begin to stir within me. I don't say or do anything, but everything comes crashing down. The room grows dark and the colors fall from the walls. The pieces rain down in a terribly loud symphony of destruction. The furniture self destructs, I watch it crumble and break. It all returns to before.

There's just one gap, one hole. One piece that's missing. One word, one clue, one picture, one memory. Memory, Mnemosyne. Or even Phoebe, as the Titaness of Mystery she has to have something that can help. My anger is my drive now. I'll pound the answers out of them if I have to. I run through the shimmer curtain, back into Tartarus. I'm not leaving without something. I take three steps into the darkness before they appear before me.

Phoebe and Koios are waiting for me patiently. His grayness is more prominent now. "Didn't find your answers?" Phoebe asks with a cruel smirk. I can see her facial features more clearly now.

"Yeah, maybe because someone sabotaged me." I respond. I'm declaring a death wish by being sassy with a titaness but that doesn't seem to matter to me.

"Of course Mira, you didn't think this would be a walk down a yellow brick road. Did you?" Koios's statement tests my self control even more.

"No I didn't. I was ready to fight for them."

"Didn't fight very hard, did you?" She's really starting to get on my nerves. That, combined with the fact I still don't have my answers, is making my frustration increase in leaps and bounds.

"Be nicer darling, not all of us can see the future. Mira didn't know she was fated to fail." Koios lays a hand on Phoebe's shoulder. He said the 'f' word.

Fail. I don't fail. I promised myself, not again. I won't fail. They're wrong, he's wrong, she's wrong. I refuse to fail.

"This isn't over yet." I promise.

"Yes, it is Mira. Its not up to you. It was never up to you. You were always just a pawn. Heroes have never held any power. Its all up to those in charge. Right now its the Olympians. Don't you see that you can't succeed alone? You are nothing without their powers. Let us give you back what you lost. We are older, we are stronger, and together we can be the ones on top." Koios is trying to sound persuasive. I can see through it.

I am nothing in their game as well. The 'we' they speak of is the two of them. I'll be a pawn again. And I am something. I am me, and just because the Olympians didn't think I was good enough doesn't mean I'm not. They're not important. Not to me, not any more. I am someone, I am a fighter. To myself, I am more than good enough.

"What makes you think I want to be a pawn again?" I ask.

"You wouldn't be." Koios says too fast.

"Yeah right." I snort. "You'll give me your powers, I'll fight a war for you, and then poof. I won't be important anymore. I don't need you or your help."

"Rude mortal. You don't know what you're turning down." Phoebe hisses.

"Or maybe you don't know who you're dealing with." I say casually.

"Such a shame, so be it. Here ends the life of Mira. The legend of you're betrayal will be told for years at the Camps." Koios says in his 'prophetic' voice. It booms across Tartarus as if he's speaking to the Fates themselves.

"You'll die in the dark and forever wonder who you are. The mystery will never be answered for you." Phoebe says with harshness. I'm not concerned for some strange reason. I'm actually perfectly fine with this. I feel like I'm in on some big joke that Phoebe and Koios don't know about. "I would enjoy killing you myself but we're late. We'll leave you in the claws of some old friends."

The two fade back into the darkness as hisses and growls start to echo through the darkness. Weird noises and pounding footsteps echo all around me. I'm being surrounded by something. I take a breath and clear my thoughts.

You'll die in the dark. No, just no. I refuse to accept that. I refuse to fail. I refuse to die. I will enjoy proving their incredibly creepy and depressing predictions wrong. I am a fighter and a magician. I am alive, and I plan on staying alive.

That is my goal. Stay alive, prove them wrong. I'm determined to reach it. I won't fail. Failing isn't making mistakes. I make mistakes everyday and I learn from them. That's the point of them, and I was stupid enough to pretend to be perfect for a good long while. Its not impossible for me to screw up. Failing isn't not being the girl I was told to be. If that was the case I would never be anything more than a failure. I'm who I am and some people *cough* the Olympians *cough* just couldn't deal with it. It might always be a mystery to me why, but that's the way it happened and I am not a time traveler so fixing the past is impossible.

Failing is when I give up. That is only thing that I currently can use the word 'impossible' to describe.

Now its time to remind some monsters why they should be afraid of me. I extend my hand and reach for my sword. It forms slowly in my hand. I extend my other hand for my wand. A few seconds later I'm armed. Now I need a way to see. Carter taught me about how magicians use the Eye of Horus help them see in the Duat. Since monsters have a sort of 'magical soul' I think they should leave some kind of sign of their presence in the Duat. Like how when you look at Walt in the Duat you see Anubis. They're 'soul' will appear in the Duat where there physical body is.

Its not guaranteed to work but its what I've got so I'll make do. I quickly pull my backpack off and sort through it to find my calligraphy kit. When I find it I forgo the brush and dip my fingers in the ink instead. I paint the Eye of Horus sign on my eyelids. For the first time I'm thankful for Aphrodite's 'How to Put on Makeup in Extremely Unlikely and Dangerous Situations' seminar.

The darkness is still there but now I can see glowing outlines of monsters. And those hieroglyphs from earlier that lead me to the door. The door, oh my gods. I turn around and sure enough, its still there and its outlined in the same glowing hieroglyphs.

"Mira," a raspy voice says. You know that feeling you get when you're almost out the door of the classroom when you're teacher calls you back inside? And you turn around they proceed to give you a pointless lecture plus extra homework? Yeah I got that feeling.

Only it wasn't my least favorite teacher wearing the smirk behind me. It was a ring of monsters that I recognized. There was about fifty of them still and even though they didn't stand in the same order I knew every single one of them was accounted for. Its the group of monsters that 'killed' me in Brooklyn.

"I wassss wondering when you would sssssshow up in Tartarusssss." A snake woman hisses.

"I want to kill you again! I can give you a punch card and the tenth time we kill you it will be less painful." One of the gorgons promises. The vampires regard me with creepy grins and evil eyes. Then one of them frowns.

"She's alive. I smell blood." The redheaded one states. The storm spirits swirl around, changing their form again and again.

"Oh I'm sorry. Did you think you killed me? I gave you the benefit of the doubt when I thought you wouldn't be dumb enough to believe that death scene." The snake women hiss. The dragon growls lowly. I smile while spinning my sword around in my hand.

"Oh well. We'll kill you now. You'll still die by our hands, all alone, and unwanted. And you'll never escape this darkness." A blond vampire states.

"Oh dear you seem to have it all wrong. You see you aren't going to be the ones to kill me, I don't really plan on dying anytime soon." I tell them cockily.

"And she isn't all alone." A golden arrow pierces the blond vampire's heart. I'm not sure who's in more shock, the monsters or me. I snap out of it after a second. Christian charges through the circle and slides to a stop at my right side.

"Mira, I'm so sorry. And I can't change the past but if I could have a second chance, it would mean the world to me. I miss being by your side."

_Leave the Roman to die. Leave him like he left you. You are Egyptian, he doesn't matter to you._

I've missed my family since I lost them. The nightmares have haunted me and I've tried so hard to show them I'm good enough even though they didn't know I was still alive. I did everything to get my family back. I don't want them back, I'm so much better than that. I told myself that at first but I didn't believe it because I let myself fall into the mess my mortal live has been. I believe it now. I've got a new family at Brooklyn House. I don't miss my old family anymore. My emotions are the judge here. My emotions of sorrow and loneliness are gone. My only emotion for the Olympians now is hate.

_That's exactly how you're supposed to feel._

"Do you remember the score?" I ask as I survey the monsters, they're slowly coming out of shock.

"My zero to your two hundred and thirty-seven, final." Just like how I'm suddenly aware of my emotions, I'm aware of his too. His answer of total regret won't change anything.

I know I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now. Its a storm of anger and hate and bitterness. But deep down, rooted in memories that I tried to forget, is love. My emotions are the judge and love decided long ago that he was meant to be at my side.

"Not final. Let's just forget the past, and continue from where we left off. Right here, with you and me facing the monsters together."

_Noooooo! _The Voice screams dramatically in my head.

He doesn't get the chance to say anything because the first monster attacks. Every fiber of my being wants to throw my wand at the gorgon. I resist the urge. I trust Christian to have my back. Sure enough, he does.

The gorgon crumbles to dust as an arrow appears in its neck. Then it starts the slow process of reforming.

"I'll work on the way out then." I say.

"Don't go too fast. I've still got a deficit of two hundred and twenty to make up." I laugh at his response as I turn my back. I don't worry one bit as I scan the wall for the door. I'm still aware of the monsters shouting insults and Christian's even more insulting replies. I hear them die and reform. I see the door's outline in the rock. I walk right up to it and place my palm on it.

I take a deep breath and reach for the magic. I can see it travel down my arm, it's like liquid gold glowing inside my veins. It spreads out through my fingertips and outlines the hieroglyphs. The portal is slower this time and not as dramatic. I need a location to make a connection with. I'm praying this works.

The artifact in front of BAG is where I want to go. I know if I take Christian back to the Kane's I just might start a war. We need to be somewhere a little more private for me to explain this all to him. I focus on an image of the campus. I channel that image along with my magic into the door. I turn my face away as it lets out a bright flash of light.

"Hey blondie!" I yell to the vampire who Christian killed first. She's reformed now but the lights burning away at her and the other monsters still on their feet. "Didn't you say something about dying in the darkness? Yeah this isn't darkness anymore. See ya later!"

The light rays explode into flames on the monsters. Strong, hot winds carrying sand grains come from the portal. They blow the dust piles away. Christian shields his face and then gapes openly. I really try not to laugh but I can't help it. Its like Kronos slowed down his brain. His too wide eyes and dropped jaw send the message that he can't comprehend this loud and clear.

"We're getting out of here." I tell him as I grab his hand. "Shut your mouth and eyes or you'll get sand in them." I warn as I drag him into the sandstorm. I close my eyes and mouth tightly as I'm consumed by the sandstorm. I never let go of him. We spin around in the darkness for a few seconds before getting thrown out of a similar sand storm on the BAG campus.

Both of us manage to get our feet under us before we land roughly on the grass. The glowing sandstorm behind us closes up. Christian rubs his eyes, trying to get the sand out of them. I snicker while I brush it out of my hair. I can't resist pulling my phone out of my backpack and snapping a picture of him. His face of shock hasn't disappeared and the sand dusting makes it even funnier. I knew there was a reason I brought my phone along.

"What in Pluto's Realm was _that?" _Christian demands.

"Its a kinda long story. One that really shouldn't be talked about in the open. So how about we head back to my apartment and I'll tell you about it there?" Neither of us let go of each other's hands on the walk back to my apartment. Its totally silent, but not in a bad way. I really enjoyed the walk. In fact not a word is said until the elevator doors close behind us.

"What's the date?" Christian asks. I check my phone.

"Sunday evening." We were gone a whole two days. It's that revelation that makes me feel tired. I blink wearily and try not to yawn. Oh crap the Kanes are going to kill me. Screw it I'll deal with them later.

"Ugh we have school tomorrow," is his response.

"Pretend to be sick for the day." I tell him. He looks at me strangely. "All American kids do it. You're not going to have to clean the sidewalks with a toothbrush for lying and not showing up for role call at BAG. I definitely won't be there." I collapse on the couch and he sits in the same chair as he did two days ago. My book bag's still where I left it. It reminds me of something.

"Are you still going to leave?" I ask.

"I don't know. Is it safe for me to stay? I have a feeling I'm about to learn I've been in danger for a really long time."

"Oh please, you're a demigod, that happens like every day. Today's just a bit more dangerous."

"Okay you've got me there. I'll stay no matter what. But when you told me you didn't know what you were, I didn't know anything, and to stay out of it...you weren't just being stubborn."

"Nope. I'm still not sure who I am. And I was kinda too late to tell you to stay out of 'it' when you stumbled into 'it' in January." I reach for my quest bag and pull my magic bag out of that. I open it and dig through my stuff. Its all out of place from when I dug my calligraphy set out earlier. "Christian, how long ago did you find out about the Greeks?" I reorganize the bag quickly and toss it on the ground.

"Christmas Break. Why?"

"You know how the Legion is told to avoid New York City all together? Its not just because of the Greeks. They're told to avoid the Bay Area and Brooklyn. Because Brooklyn doesn't belong to either side."

"Brooklyn belongs to a third mythology." Christian says, comprehending.

"Actually Egypt came first so therefore its the first mythology. As a Roman you're the third." Assuming there isn't another one out there I don't know about yet. With my luck there probably is.

"Egypt." He says with wonder. I look at his eyes and can see the gears turning in his brain. "So which god's daughter are you? Isn't one of them Borus?" I really hope the gods of Egypt can't see this. If they can I guess I'll know in a few seconds because there's no way Horus will let this pass. I count to ten and then decide Christians not in danger of getting turned into falcon food. I lie back and stare up at the ceiling.

"Horus. And it doesn't work the same way. Egyptians are all magicians. Descended from the Pharaohs of Egypt. We call it Blood of the Pharaohs. Pharaohs were known for being strong magicians. They studied the 'paths' of gods. Their goal was to learn how to harness that god's powers. The ultimate goal was to become strong enough to become the god's host. The Eye. It would be the perfect combination of a mortal moving in unison with their chosen god. It took a very, very strong magician or..."

"Or?"

"Or channeling the god's powers would be too much for you and you'd burn up or go crazy."

"Ouch."

"You don't know the half of it." I tell him. "Its a lot more complicated than being a demigod."

"How?" He asks curiously.

"Well for starters, there's a freaking ton more of us than you. For example, Brooklyn has about twenty magicians. We're the Twenty-First Nome. No, not the garden kind. There's three hundred and sixty Nomes around the world. Some have a lot more than twenty and a few have less. Then the politics tend to be worse. Especially when you get involved in who's related to who. The older and more renown your Pharaoh ancestor is, the more powerful you are. Both in politics and magic typically. Oh and magic, well we'll just start with magic is more complicated than demigod powers, if you screw up a spell you die. Plus the monsters are usually minions of some god which means you can't just kill them. And if you do defeat them the god usually hates you assuming their minion wasn't sent after you because they hate you. Then for me there's the whole drama of trying to keep my fellow magicians from finding out that I'm Greek and Roman raised while learning a whole new fighting style and mythology. Not to mention I still don't know how or why I ended up on Olympus, who my ancestors or even my parents are, and I have no clue how to tell them all about my past. And I'll have to soon. Some of them have noticed the different monsters and one of them knows you were there that night."

I sigh and roll over onto my stomach. I stare at the couch cushion in front of my face. "I feel like I'm trying to stop the inevitable some days. Keeping everything separate when its already started to mix together. Its just so crazy, complicated, and confusing." I feel the couch shift as Christian sits next to me.

"Geez Mira."

"Oh I haven't even told you the wonderfully complex story of how this all came about. Trust me, that's almost worse." I sit up at turn to face him.

"You said you wanted to start up where we left off, right?"

"What has that got to do with this?" I ask.

"This isn't where we left off." Christian tells me. I smile sadly.

"Yeah, not even close." I respond.

"So let's go back in time a little more before we go forward into the future." I look up at him and try to figure out what he's getting at. We evened the score. He stayed with me, that's all that I thought needed to be fixed. What else was in the past?

"I left off with a very important question." I wait for him to ask this 'very important' question. He hesitates and then smiles. "Will you go to the end of the year dance with me?"

**Shyer-please apologize to anyone who was in the room when you read that chapter for me. I do hope their hearing comes back as soon as you stop screaming **

**Q: What is the combination of Carter's 'locker' in the Duat? Bonus points for how he came up with it.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Guest-Jeez double bonus points for that**

**Guest-correct a mundo**

**Jjidizzle122-thank you for all of that. I've tried to vary more in the last few chapters but your totally right about the first few. Just with the plot line, I didn't want to start Mira any father ahead than I did and there was lots to explain and I couldn't come up with other things to happen at CHB...will do**

** .Lord. AJ. -I'm pretty sure he went through hell to get to Tartarus (smart aleck comment) seriously that will be brought up soon. Thank you, your very awesomatic**

**Guest-yep**

**Booknerder45-correct...I think I broke your brain (sorry!)**

**illahe2000-thanks! :)**

**kalifornia-yeppers**

**TheMaster444-thank you! I'll try but I'm actually traveling right now**

**Pandy0615-double bonus points again!**

**shalalalalalala-close. I'm glad I'm not responsible for some people losing their hearing...and no comment on the last part**

**Pollex-one of my favorite words to read in a review :) thank you**

**Chapter 29~Warning, Do Not Shoot the Falcons**

Mira PoV

I'm so happy I'm speechless. Until something crashes through the window and shakes the apartment. I lunge for my magic kit at the foot of the couch while Christian jumps to his feet and notches an arrow.

_Cock a doodle dooooo!_ I turn around while squatting, one hand still in my bag. The thing standing in a patch of glass shards is strange. Its horse with a rooster's tail, wings, and legs. And apparently it makes rooster noises too. Christian lets his arrow fly and the thing dodges. I pull my sword from my bag and stand again.

"A Hippalektryon," Christian says. He drops his bow and slides two knives out of his pockets. I understand the message, this is a close range fight. The Hippalektryon spreads its wings and screeches its rooster call at us again. Then it spreads its wing and kicks a chair. Christian ducks while I jump the couch to avoid the flying chair. It smashes to smithereens against the elevator doors. It continues to screech its wake up call and ram into things in the living room.

"Ha-rih!" I shout. The awful screeching stops, making it easier to focus. Christian engages the thing in battle before I can utter another spell. I shrug and join him in defeating the monster the hard way. I run around the couch and duck under one of its wings limbo style to get behind the creature. Christian dodges its bites and counters its slashes with its roosters legs with his knives. I vault onto it's horseback and bring my sword around to cut its head off.

The Hippalektryon freaks out when it feels my weight and starts bucking. I'm thrown right and try to grab something to keep from falling off its back. I manage to grab its wing right where it meets the body. Its panic escalates and it backs up. I squeeze my eyes shut as it backs up through the frame of broken glass. A piece cuts my arm and I can feel blood trickling down.

Once its on the balcony it takes off. I hold onto its wing socket tightly as I move up and down rapidly. My teeth clack together and I really can't see. My feet dangle into open air as the creature climbs into the sky. I'd use my sword but I'd probably cut myself worse than the creature. Its horse head turns back to look at me and it silently screeches before trying to bite me.

I manage to bring one of my legs up and kick it in the head. Its teeth catch my sneaker and rip it off. Horses definitely don't have teeth as sharp as that.

"Mira!" Christian shouts from below me, reminding me that I'm not alone. I turn my head and get a fuzzy glimpse of him with his bow on the balcony. That's when I realize I'm an idiot.

"Shoot when I jump!" I shout. I'm pretty sure he's considering taking me to get a brain scan about now but he doesn't give me a 'the hell?' look. We've got a lot of practicing to do together so he can get used to all my magic tricks.

First I toss my sword into open air and watch it fade into the Duat. Then I let got of its wing and turn to face the ground as I fall. I shut my eyes and focus on the sky, the wind rushing by me. I want to fly, not fall. I can't even feel the change happen but when I open my eyes my vision is a thousand times better. I see Christian launching arrows at an object above me. I see the hotel rushing up beneath me. It feels wonderful. I snap my wings open and pull up out of my dive. The wind fills them and my brown feathers rustle as I start to slow. Christian lets another arrow fly, it sails above me. I perform a sharp turn in mid air so I can look up.

The Hippalectryon is following me, two golden arrows stick out of one wing and another from its rump. The last arrow catches its neck and the thing disintegrates. A shower of dust falls down on me. I let out a joyful call. Victory, together. I perform some impressive evasive maneuvers to dodge the four arrows that are now falling toward me. For the heck of it I do another mini dive and barrel roll. The sky beacons to me. It feels wonderful to be so high up here. I could stay a bird. I wouldn't have any problems. I recognize the signs of my mind slipping into a falcon's. I need something to focus on so I keep my eyes on Christian. I angle toward the railing in front of him and glide down from the sky.

The temptation to be a bird is always strong, I've practiced resisting. Usually I use Jaz's or Sadie's or Carter's face to remind me to be human again. Just someone to remind me that I'm human and the ground is where I belong. I flutter my wings once to slow myself so I can perch on the railing. Time to change back.

I keep my eyes open this time, locked on Christian's. I start to grow taller and change shape. My neatly folded wings turn to arms and the feathers fall around me. My vision dims, making me just a little bit dizzy, and my legs become more sturdy. Seconds later I'm crouched on the railing, perfectly balanced, and still looking at Christian.

"No comment," he says, trying not to sound too in awe.

"Smart move," I assure him. I jump down from the balcony railing and land nimbly on my feet. "Its part of the whole story." Something moves behind him in the apartment. I scan the overturned furniture and debris for another monster. The light bulb overhead is shattered by something. "This isn't over," I tell him as he turns around at the noise.

He steps to my side and pulls another arrow out of his quiver. I hold my hand out and whisper, "ilen en-mar." My magic bag comes racing out of the debris toward me. I grab it and sling it over my left shoulder. From within I draw out my white colored wand, inscribed with hieroglyphics. I slip my hand into the Duat and pull my sword out again.

A girl in a short red dress limps out of the dark room. She stops in the window of broken glass. Her brown hair is long and straight with eyes that flicker between brown and red. She's got palish skin and a perfect body. I frown and stare at her a bit longer. Her eyes flicker once more before settling on red and her legs transform. One's metal and the other is a donkey's.

"Hi cutie. Want to have some fun?" She stares at me with disdain. Her words are directed to Christian though.

"Mine," I declare before lunging at her with a scream. I'm not really sure what's gotten into me. Its a mix of adrenaline, a strange desire to fight, and jealousy...I think. Besides Christian can't fight her, she'll just flirt some more, charm speak him into a date, and then drink his blood. Logically I'm the one who has to fight her and its not because I'm protective of a boy I'm not dating...yet. He asked me on a date, I wonder if that counts. Wait! Focus on the fight.

She slashes at my face with a perfect set of french manicured nails. "Looks like someones a wit be jealous," she cackles. I kick her in the stomach and bring my sword down on her head. She ducks even more and grabs my wand arm.

"Of you? Heck no!" I laugh while jumping over her metal leg that she tries to trip me with. "By the way, monsters aren't his type ." She screams and jumps on top of me. The extra weight from her metal leg helps her push me over but I roll over on top of her. She scratches at my arms while I use my legs to keep her down. I use my sword as a distraction, when I bring it down toward her head she grabs my arm and tries to keep it from reaching her neck. I bring my left arm down with the wand.

"A'max," I say with a smirk. I jump off her as my wand sets her hair on fire. She shrieks once more before crumbling to dust. I don't have time to enjoy my victory because I'm rammed into from behind. Slippery black arms try to grab me from behinds. I bend over and throw them over my back before sticking my sword in their stomach. The telekehine turns to dust a lot faster than the still burning empousa girl.

"Mira," Christian calls from the balcony. I stumble out of the dark room, making sure to check that I still have my magic bag. On the balcony Christian's having a moonlit target practice session. A horde of black birds swarm about and dive bomb him. Any bird that gets within ten feet of him suddenly sprouts a golden arrow.

"You're doing fine on your own." I comment casually. A group of five birds shriek and twitch their tails in a strange way. Five black projectiles shoot through the air towards me. I dive to the ground and look behind me when I heard the dull thuds. Five glossy black feathers are embedded in the door frame where my head was.

"Draw their fire."

"I can do distractions," I say with a big grin. "The roof has more space." He nods and turns once to shoot a single arrow in the wall, halfway between the balcony floor and the roof top. I jump on the metal railing, then on the arrow and reach for the edge of the building. I pull myself up with a bit of effort and some wiggling to keep from slicing myself open on my sword.

The roof is a dark mess of AC units, wires, pipes, and one door to the stairs. I twirl my sword's grip in my hand and then my wand. "Hey monster birds! You can eat me if you catch me." I offer while leaning over the edge again. There's a unanimous squwak of delight from the flock. They rapidly ascend to above the roof.

Christian's hands appear on the edge of the roof and he pulls himself up as the first feathers start to fly. I twirl to the side and duck as another two come flying in. Its like playing a game of dodgeball with knives. I slip down into the splits as another feather flies over my head and roll backwards as another few are aimed at my lower body. I get back to my feet and continue to dance around, taunting the birds with words.

I jump as a few hit where my feet would have been and continue to dance and tumble around on the roof. I fall into a rhythm with the music of feathers whizzing through the air and hitting the roof. Almost as often as feathers hit the roof, arrows hit birds. Christian's creating a miniature bird cemetery on the roof.

I jump over two birds with the same golden arrow through their chests. At times I use my sword or wand, or both to deflect arrows instead of dodging them all. Christian and I work as the perfect team, the birds numbers dwindle so fast they don't eve know what's happening till there's just one left.

The last bird shrieks as its impaled in its eye. It lands at my feet and I do a front flip over it and land with my hands in the air, still clasping my wand and sword. He's facing me with a grin. "That was pretty cool. Especially the part where you tackled the empousa." I try not to blush but then I realize something.

"Did you just stand and watch?" I ask in mock outrage.

"No, I threw some telekehines over the balcony."

"Not this time." We both glance to our left. The door to the stairs is open and on the stairs are two very unhappy looking seal people. Both have swords awkwardly grasped in their fin like hands.

"How are you back here so fast?" I ask with dread.

"We took the elevator!" The smaller one declares happily. "I added a sardine dispenser on the ride up." Note to self, get rid of that before tomorrow morning.

"Out of my way!" The empousa shouts as she shoves the two telekehines aside and storms onto the roof. Another telekehine trails behind her. Her eyes are flaming red now. "You are mine!" She says with a dangerous look at Christian.

"Oh I'm kinda in a relationship, I think." Christian says with an apologetic look. "I can hook you up with my nephew Octavian though, you guys are perfect for each other." I snicker as I imagine the couple. I can see Octavian dating a vicious monster girl.

"You'll be single in two minutes," the empousa hisses. I think she's threatening my life. Challenge accepted.

I toss my sword in the air once and catch it. "You can take the others." I tell Christian. I keep my back to his as she advances toward me. I wait until she's just a few feet away before charging. This time she's more aware of both of my weapons. She uses her arms to block my wand and her claws to block my sword. She also kicks with both of her legs, I have to dodge since they're a lot more powerful than any blows I can deliver.

I see an opening in her defense that I lunge for when my sword is ripped out of my grasp. "Hey-" I protest as I look to the sky and the words die in my throat. I only had enough time to throw my hands in front of my face and shut my eyes as a storm of black feathers bombard me. The birds land on my shoulders and in my hair, others fly around pecking at me and scratching me with their talons. One annoying one screeches in my ear.

The empousa knocks me off my feet while I'm blinded and pins me to the ground. Her teeth sparkle white enough to be in a Crest commercial as she leans down toward me. In a panic I fall back on the second thing Sadie ever taught me about magic: when in doubt make it blow up.

"Hadi!" I scream and the symbol burns bright on the empousa's forehead. She crumbles in a not so bright or loud explosion. I cough as monster dust coats me and roll over. I get to my feet, clutching my wand and looking for my sword.

_Cock a doodle dooo!_ The hippalektryon lands on the roof in front of me and it doesn't look too happy. "Nice pony," I say soothingly while reaching into my magic kit. It snorts as if to say, 'really, nice pony?' and then lowers its head. It gallops toward me and I yelp as I throw something out of my bag. Its the twine. "Tas," I yell while diving right. I turn a somersault and stand up. The hippalektryon lays thrashing on the roof in a rope cocoon. I've got other things to deal with now so I jump over it and survey the rooftop fight.

The stars twinkle bright and its a beautiful night view of the light up city of New York. Its ruined by the claw marks, black feathers, and golden arrows laying about in piles of random yellow dust. Christian's got a telekhine reforming behind him while he shoots at Stymphalian birds. The empousa's dust pile hasn't stirred yet thankfully, and every bird that he kills is instantly reforming.

We need to regroup and find a way to keep dead things dead. We can scare off the Stymphalians but the others we'll have to deal with. I have a feeling an extra large dustpan and broom are going to do us any more good than imperial gold or magic.

I pick up the golden arrows I see as I make my way back across the roof. Christian's still fighting his own battles. One telekehine is almost completely reformed behind him and the other two's dust piles are stirring. He turns his back to me to shoot a shot and the seal monster grabs its sword from the ground. I walk up behind it and bring my wand down on its head with a crack. It stumbles back a few steps like its drunk on Dakota's kool aid concotion. I don't know what else to do so I quickly bend over and pull the shoe lace out of my one sneaker.

"Tas," the seal demon is wrapped in a neon blue shoe string as thick as a normal rope. The string ties itself into a little bow to complete the binding. My magical reserve is running pretty low now but I've still got two other telekehines and an empousa to do...something with. I add the bundle of arrows I picked up to Chrisitan's quiver.

"You wouldn't happen to have an electric guitar in your apartment?"

"Nope." I answer.

"Could you pull one out of thin air?"

"Too much magic, I'm running kinda low since the circumstances before this fight weren't exactly ideal."

"Your phone?"

"Downstairs in the rubble." I start to catch onto his thinking process. The Stymphalians have ears more sensitive than the Apollo Cabin. "You could sing like Justin Beiber. That would drive them away pretty fast." I stand a few inches away with my back to his and watch the dust piles while trying to think of a way to get rid of the other monsters.

"_You_ sing like Justin Beiber."

"I'm figuring out a way to get you out of a dinner date with a vampire, be more grateful." I can feel his shudder from over here, probably from the idea I just suggested along with the JB song plan.

The piles are starting to stir. At this point my best idea has been to tie the monsters up and deal with them later. I crouch down and start unlacing Christian's shoes. I steal both of his shoelaces without bothering to explain. As for the birds, I've got an idea I think. I open my magic bag and put my wand in it for a moment to pull something else out. The wax. I start moulding it, trying for just enough detail to make this work. It doesn't have to look good, just sound bad.

The twang and thud pattern of Christian shooting a hitting birds is suddenly interrupted. There's a twang but no thud. I look up for a moment and see a bird spiraling down to the ground rapidly, an arrow in its wing. I frown, its not a Stymphalian.

"No," I mutter. The bird lands and starts to transform to a person. I glance over at Christian, he's stopped to watch too. "Keep going, I deal with this." I say with a grim face. I drop my bag, only bothering to grab my wand again. I hear the wax bounce out of it but that doesn't matter. Christian resumes his shooting and I run across the roof. Carter's already in human form by the time I reach him.

"Carter that wasn't on purpose," I start to explain. He looks past me at Christian. His eyes narrow, there's a hateful gaze etched on his face that makes me think somethings majorly wrong. He just doesn't look like Carter. When he pulls his sword from the Duat without a word to me I really start to worry.

"Carter no! He's not the enemy, the monsters. Help fight them, not Christian."

"He is the enemy, the enemies of Egypt must die."

That's definitely not Carter. I plant myself in front of him with my wand and no energy to speak of.

_Kill the Roman, he is the enemy_. My mind echoes Carter's words. I step aside slowly and let Carter pass. No this is wrong, the monsters are the enemies-_the Roman is the enemy. Rome must burn. The children of the gods must be destroyed. They are evil, they are the enemy, kill the enemy._ The hate rises up inside starts to cloud my mind. Rome is the enemy of Egypt. I am Egyptian, the Romans are my enemies.

My body moves with purpose after Carter. My mind is plotting a strategy that won't fail. I will kill my enemies. There's such an internal loathing for them. It feels ancient and so vast, likes its always been there inside growing stronger. This is revenge. This is right, I am strong. I am a fighter. I am Egyptian and my enemies will fall.

No he's my friend and I have to protect him. I fight a civil war on the roof for control of my body. I don't move an inch or try to see what's going on around me. I am entirely focused and devoted to this battle raging on inside me. I think I've got the Voice overpowered. My thoughts are starting to clear and sound more like me.

"Mira, I need help with this one!"

His words really jolt me out of it. He needs my help. I've heard him use that word like twice that I can remember. I push the Voice away completely and get a grip on my emotions. I feel in control now, of me at least. The fight is raging on.

Carter's already engaged Christian in battle. His khosep against Christian's two daggers. Oh crap, I need a weapon. I use that summoning spell again, "ilen en-mar." My sword skitters across the roof and flies at me from my left. I turn and grab it with my right hand, just in time to see the empousa tackling me.

"He's mine, mine to have, mine to kill." The empousa rants as she struggles with me. She holds my arms back so I can't use my wand or my sword. I fight against her and it's a battle of physical strength to see who pushes the other back first.

The Voice takes advantage of my distraction to try and rise up again. I shove it down quickly this time and snap at it to shut up. I feel the storm of emotions churning again and I try a different approach this time. I let them out. Its a big blast of bright magic without words. The empousa stumbles back as it consumes her. When it fades she is just fine for a split second.

"Magician," she squeaks out. Then she shatters like a piece of glass. Now all I need is a way to keep her dead. My magic's still going. Little golden tendrils trace a circle around the empousa's dust pile and open a hole into the Duat, sucking what's left of her into it. It closes a second later and I feel so tired all of a sudden that I can't stand. I drop to the roof panting for air. My world spins for a moment before starting to level out. I manage to make out the stars, the still tied up hippalektryon, and two figures clashing blades.

Oh gods of Egypt the fight! I look over and watch with horror. Sparks fly as they clash, bruises are forming and cuts bleed. I watch as Christian almost cuts the back of Carter's neck but instead shears off a few pieces of curly brown hair. Carter retaliates with a kick and slash designed to kill if Christian hadn't moved.

I realize then with dread that they will kill each other. The don't even recognize each other as teammates and school friends. They aren't even paying attention to the Stymphalians diving bombing them with feathers or trying to poke their eyes out. All they're focused on is each other.

"Enemy of Egypt." Carter says with a furious viggor.

"Victory for Rome," Christian replies with a bloodthirsty passion. His eyes brush over me, "and the traitor." My heart sinks in my chest. It sounds like the chase all over again. Neither of them is them. And I wasn't me, I was ready to march up to Christian and stick him with a sword just like Carter. And I would have if Christian hadn't called out to me and jerked me out of it. I shudder at the thought and get to my feet, I have to stop them.

_No killing? Killing is good!_ The Voice declares. It comes with renewed sense of hate and a big push to fight instead of create peace. I've made up my mind now, I know what I want and who's who. I focus on Christian and Carter, two people I love in different ways. If either of them hurts the other I'll lose it. Or worse I'll go back into crazy zombie killing mode.

Carter holds out a hand and I recognize the gesture. He does it before he summons the Eye of Horus, I've seen it hundreds of times in practice duels. "Drowah!" I yell. A golden wall of light effects between the two of them. Carter's spell hits it and starts to burn through. I'm sweating with effort and my knees are shaking.

"Christian! Carter!" I shout with all I have left. They freeze as my vision darkens and spins around like I'm on a roller coaster. I feel kinda sick and passing out sounds pretty good right now. I won't stop fighting. I grit my teeth and try to see. The world spins so much that I have to shut my eyes and once they're shut they don't open again.

**AN:And the plot goes somewhere! I've been waiting for that. The two worlds meet after only 100,000 word. Sorry for the cliffy, next chapter will be up within an hour or tomorrow (because it was originally part of this one till I went waaaay over the word count for one chapter). Reviews make my day! Keep reading. Oh and I reached 1**

**Q: How long was Jason praetor before he was kidnapped by Juno?**


	30. Chapter 30

**AN: This would have been up sooner but there were issues our travel plans that had to be sorted out...yeah not fun at all. So I present to you the longest and craziest chapter yet!**

**TheMaster4444-thank you! I hope you like this. Its 5,000 words worth of explainations.**

**shalalalalalala-actually according to Reyna, Jason was praetor for a few months**

**trustingHim17-update has arrived. **

**Chapter 30~The Most Dangerous, Complicated Bedtime Story Ever**

"She said your name first."

"Yeah."

"Who are you?"

"I have a feeling she'll want to explain. Plus it will make more sense if she does."

"If you turn on her again I'm going to turn you into a mouse and feed you to my pet griffin. I was there in the warehouses that day."

"I've heard worse threats from my ten year old half sister."

I can make out the voices, I recognize them both. I just feel like waking up is so impossible right now. I'm totally drained of energy and sleep felt really good.

"And when Mira wakes up I'm sure she'll have something better."

"If she's on your side..." It sounds like they're going to start another fight. I guess I have to wake up to stop this, again. I muster my will power and open my eyes. I'm staring up at the night sky. A there's nothing but rocks under my body. I'm still on the roof. I take that as a good sign that I haven't been out for too long.

I can make out Christian kneeling on my right and Carter crouched down on my left. Christian's put his weapons up but he's fiddling with a single arrow. Carter's sword lays on the roof next to his right hand. As soon as they see my open eyes they both move to help me sit up, they know me so well. Then they both go back to their positions on either side of me, looking warily at each other. I sit cross legged and look at the both of them. I feel wide awake now but I'm still exhausted.

"You were smoking," Carter accuses. I don't know what to say so I shrug. "We need to get you to Jaz right now." I protest my shaking my head. Talking sounds just a bit out of reach right now.

"Mira you know I suck at anything but combat magic and I'm seriously afraid you did catch part of your soul on fire." Christian glares at me and I shrug again.

"You can burn your soul up doing magic?" Christian demands.

"Our souls almost got trapped in a pit of evil darkness. I'm really not that worried." I manage to say in a relatively normal voice, its kinda raspy.

"You went into an evil pit of darkness...with him? That's where you were this weekend?" Carter sounds outraged that I went with Christian and hurt that I didn't tell him where I was going. Or maybe ask for his assistance.

"No actually she went alone, and she jumped." Christian fills in.

"How did you find me?" I ask curiously.

"Well you implied where you were going and I kinda followed you in my dreams until I woke up and raced after you. You scared me to death Mira." The look of worry on his face makes me feel bad that I almost killed him and left him behind.

"You jumped into an evil pit of darkness alone?" Carter's going into protective freak out mode. He's like a big brother to all the magicians and he does a great job of worrying for us, except Sadie.

"There is a very good reason for that," I start but Christian cuts me off.

"And its my fault."

"Oh shut up," I snap at Christian. "I was being an idiot."

"And I still say that I helped teach you to be an over confident, perfectionist idiot." Carter watches our arguement with a very confused look.

"You want to fight?" I offer Christian. "I've got a lot confusion and anger I'd like to get out."

"No, you aren't fighting. Doctor's orders." I scowl and fold my arms across my chest. Doctors orders, he used to do that after some of our night time training exercises. He used the right to boss me around rarely but I learned after a while that if it was bad enough for him to be concerned I should do what he said. "I want you to eat something, let me make sure you're not majorly hurt, get a lot of sleep tonight, and not do magic for a while. That's what I want."

"Well I want to know what in the Duat is going on!" Carter finally interjects. "All of it this time, Mira. There's a lot of stuff I know you haven't mentioned since I found you in Brooklyn." I take a breath and count to ten. I calm down a bit and clear my mind some.

"Carter the words 'a lot of stuff' don't even scratch the surface of this. And you're right, I've been lying for a long time. I'm sorry, but I was...scared about what would happen when this all came out. And I never planned to stick around in Brooklyn so I hoped this would never come out. Are you ready to heard the most complicated, dangerous bedtime story ever?"

I give them both credit for not even looking scared when they both nod and agree at the same time. "Wait," Christian says right when I'm ready to start. "You are going to eat something first." I hesitate but relent.

"I'll be right back," he promises as he gets up and runs down the stairs. Carter and I are left on the roof. The stars twinkle and the lights of the city burn bright as ever. Its ruined by the feathers and claw marks all over the roof. And I'm going to ruin it more by having a secret telling session worthy of an Aphrodite sleep over.

"How confusing will this be?" Carter asks suddenly. I look over at him and notice he's staring at me weird. Like he's trying to figure this all out before I tell him.

"You'll be staying home from school with me tomorrow while your brain reboots." I promise.

"How dangerous is this?" I hesitate before answering.

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid I'd be left alone again. Once I found out I was a magician...Carter if the wrong people learn about this it wouldn't be hard to start a war. A bloody war that would destroy a great deal of New York City and harm lots of people, mortal and non mortal."

He's silent while he lets that sink in. I try to brighten the mood by asking a non related question. "How long was I out?"

"Long enough for us to deal with the other monsters. I shoved the tied up ones in the Duat and Christian realized what the wax guitar statue on the roof was for. I added my magic to it and he played a racket that scared the feather shooting dive bombers away." I grin when I hear my plan worked. "Maybe two minutes?" Those guys work fast. "You scared both of us into cooperating, as you can see that didn't last after we disposed of the monsters." I nod, that's understandable

Carter hesitates for a second and I look away. I know he's got a million more questions. "You didn't call for help or anything...right?" I ask. He shakes his head, I sigh with relief. This is complicated enough. Trying to introduce two leaders from two different rival mythologies tonight will be hard enough. Forget the rest of Brooklyn House.

"Mira can you really trust him?"

I don't get a chance to answer that with a firm yes because Christian's back up on the roof. He's got a black box in one hand that I recognize. He sits on my right again and opens it without looking at Carter or me.

There's footsteps on the stair well and we both look over to see Christian jogging up the stairs. He's got a black case in one hand and another bag in the other. Carter stiffens up immediately. Christian sits back down next to me.

"That was fast." Carter remarks kind of coldly.

"You ziplined down the building and took the elevator up." I accuse with a grin.

"Remember when you dragged me to New York to zip line from skyscraper to skyscraper?" I laugh, that was a fun night. A little boy with clear sight asked us if we were superheroes when we landed on the street. Christian pulls several things out of the black case, granola bars, water bottles, a smaller bottle of golden liquid, some ambrosia squares in a ziploc bag, bandages, and duct tape.

I take one of the chocolate granola bars and start eating rather quickly. I also claim one of the water bottles. Christian scans my arms and legs, hesitating over some of the larger looking cuts. They've all stopped bleeding by now.

"You're going to need one heck of a lie for all of those," he says finally. "Unless Carter trusts me enough to heal you." That statement is accompanied by a stare in Carter's direction.

"You've got Nectar," I point out. Neither of the boys say anything. I roll my eyes and grab the bottle of gold liquid. Both of them break away from their stare off when I take a sip. I think Christian's waiting for me to burn up and Carter's not really sure what will happen but he's waiting for something.

"If you think about it Christian, I've been a magician this whole time and it hasn't affected me. Besides, it only burns up mortals. I'd like to point out that no one on this roof is mortal." I take another sip and savor the taste of rich chocolate and sweet caramel. My skin starts to tingle and it looks like some of the worst cuts are starting to close up. Christian mutters a few verses of a Latin prayer to Apollo without Carter's approval.

"You've got magic?" Carter asks with a frown. Most of my bruises are disappearing too and I'm feel a bit more awake now.

"Not exactly," Christian says. He gives me a look and I know its time to begin. I take a sip of water and then try to think of where to start.

"I don't know the beginning of this story. But I'll start from where I know. First let's introduce ourselves. Because none of us are who we think each other to be. Carter is the current Pharaoh of Egypt, Eye of Horus Egyptian god of battle, and leader of Brooklyn House. Christian is a former Praetor of the Twelfth Legion of Rome, he holds more military medals than any fifteen year old should, and is a demigod son of Apollo god of poetry, art, archery, music, medicine, and the sun. I'm Mira, magician of the twenty first Nome of the House of Life, former adopted daughter of Olympus, and confused as heck. Any questions so far?"

I look back and forth between the two boys' faces. They're staring at each other like they're aliens.

"You're a child...of a human...and a god?" Carter says like he's tempted to call me a liar. "And are Romans the gods of Manhattan? Is that why it's forbidden for Egyptians to go over there?"

"Oh crap, no that's the Greeks. Forgot about them since we really don't have a true Greek here tonight. Yes that's why it's forbidden and as for the whole demigod concept. Well the Olympians have physical bodies, they go into the mortal world and have children with mortals more often than you'd think. Last stats I had put the total number of Greek and Roman demigods around six hundred I think. Those are the ones at the training Camps. There's probably fifty or so who are too young to be claimed or run around solo." Carter falls silent after I finish answering his question. I think he's mentally comparing the number of magicians to the number of demigods.

"You're a king." Christian states while looking at Carter. "As in the leader of all of Egypt? And you've got a god inside of you?"

"Just the House of Life," Carter says kinda awkwardly. "Horus isn't inside me any more. Otherwise you would be dead right now."

The two of them ask a couple more questions and I try really hard not to laugh. The realization of what I've just done hits hard and suddenly. I look up at the sky, waiting for lightening to come down and strike me dead. I feel like I've just armed a nuclear bomb and given Shelby the big red button that reads 'do not push'.

"What are you waiting for Mira?" Christian asks. I scan the skyline of Manhattan, in particular looking for a disturbance above the Empire State Building.

"Oh you know, the end of the world. Or a giant explosion. Maybe all three of us crumbling to ashes. A mortal running around screaming about the apocalypse. Giant flying wombats, an army of Christmas cookies, and the revenge of Sadie the Crazy. A lot of answers to a lot of questions and for all of this to make sense."

"Uhh right, I think you should continue the story." Carter says. I can tell he's gotten over his initial shock and now he's curious. So I take the hint.

"First we need background information. I'm going to give the abridged, crash course, five minute version of three mythologies. And I bet will take at least an hour." I crack my knuckles and launch into Egyptian mythology. Christian nods as I go, trying to look like he's understand this. I think he and Carter secretly are in one of those contests where they both try to look manly by never being shocked. Christian loses in less than two minutes. Greece is the second oldest so it goes next and then Rome. Carter looks like he's going to win until I start on the whole 'Greek form versus Roman form' and then his shoulders just drop in defeat.

"Okay you two, anything I missed?" They both shake their heads like robots. "I'm going to give you a two minute break to try and re-assemble your brains." I stand up and stretch a little. "I recommend focusing on something that makes sense to you. Why don't you have a basketball stat reciting contest?" I bend over backwards and then stand up straight again. They both still staring at me with wide eyes.

"How can you look so at ease with this?" Carter comments as I turn a cartwheel.

"It hasn't been two minutes yet, I have a feeling you're going to want the recovery time." Christian tells him. Carter shuts his mouth. I sit back down after what I think is about two minutes.

"It starts, well the middle of the start, on the summer solstice, almost fifteen years ago." I don't bother with a 'once upon a time' or 'a long long time ago' introduction. "All the gods are in the Throne Room, even Hades is allowed out of the Underworld for the Council day. The interruption came halfway through, when a cradle suddenly appeared at the top of the steps at the entrance to the Throne Room. Hera's the one to pick the baby up out of the cradle when suddenly Apollo starts speaking the future. She'll be a powerful hero but she's not normal, the Immortal Rules don't apply to her."

"Immortal Rules?" Carter questions.

"Rules that state what the gods can and cannot do. They're not allowed to interfere with each other's symbols of power or territories. They can't interfere with the mortal world. And they can't spend too much time with their demigod children." I tell him sadly.

"That's stupid," Carter states. Christian laughs with a cruel smirk.

"You weren't brought up with them. My dad claimed me when I joined the Legion. My dad showed up for a split second in disguise at the Feast of Fortuna the first year I was elected praetor. And he sent me his first gifts after I left Mira for dead. It was like 'here you just killed your best friend, congrats son! A car and a blessing will make you feel better'." Christian stares at the arrow in his hand and looks about ready to crush it in his hand. Or set it on fire with his laser gaze that he's using to stare at it.

"Which blessing?" I ask. Apollo has a lot. Christian could be the next great pop star for all I know. Or a Nascar driver. Or upcoming artist. Or a lot of other stuff...

"I can absorb sunlight and convert it to energy." No wonder he's never tired any more. "It doesn't entirely compensate for not sleeping or eating but it does help a lot."

"So you're a solar panel?" Carter asks.

"Nope, he's a sunflower!" I blurt out. I can't help but snicker.

"That's worse than 'Roman Candle'." That makes me laugh even harder and finally Christian gives up and grins as well. When I finally get a hold of my laughter I continue the story. It takes me a moment to remember where I am.

"Right so oh yeah, Apollo promises everything the gods want in a demigod child and they can raise her on Olympus. Cue a claiming war where every single god or goddess calls the baby their own. Before the weapons get brought out Athena steps in an provides a non violent solution. They get to raise her as a family. Each of the Council member's gets one month with her a year. Except Hera, she'll share with Zeus and Hades can have her month. It takes the rest of the Council Meeting for them all to agree to it, pick months, and give her a name. I'm still not clear on why they chose Mira but I guess its not important."

"Why?" Carter asks. "That makes absolutely no sense."

"Well I'm just glad some of the gods didn't get their way. Aphrodite would have named me Glamourbella Barbie while Ares would have gone for something more like-"

"No I mean the whole part about them fighting over you. Why are you so much more important?" That makes a lot more sense than him wondering why my name made no sense.

"The conclusion I've reached is they thought somehow they could make me the prophecy child even though I wasn't one of their children and there were three other children of the eldest gods who were older than me. They were training me into the exact kind of soldier they wanted in a battle. I had a good head, fast reasoning, I could interpret weakness, exploit those, I didn't hesitate, and I was power. No where near a god but I could take down my 'siblings' with ease, the demigods that is. When I fought Ares I could pull out a win maybe every one in five." When I say it out loud it doesn't make as much sense and Christian picks up on that too.

"At that point all three of the eldest would have had one child, at least, alive. Even if the others didn't know about their kid, they did. So why have another? Just for show?" Christian's got good questions.

"Woah back up. Prophecy child? And why a child of the eldest gods?" Carter asks.

"The Oracle of Delphi delivered a prophecy commonly refered to as The Great Prophecy. It told of a big war in the future. That was the Second Titan War. It ended August 18, last year.

_A child of the eldest gods,_

_shall reach sixteen against all odds._

_And find the world in an endless sleep,_

_the cursed blade the hero's soul shall reap._

_A single choice shall end his days,_

_Olympus to preserve or raze."_

I chant out the prophecy I had memorized from when I was a kid. "I grew up on Olympus, training hard and morphing into the perfect soldier. Then as soon as the war was over, I wasn't interesting any more. Five months later and they hate me so much they want me dead. I was accused to betraying them to the giants and I ran for my life. I ran into you guys, told some major lies, discovered I was a magician, and have been searching for answers ever since. Which kinda made me act wierd. Friday I got a brainstorm and decided the best hiding place the Olympians had was Tartarus."

"The evil pit of darkness." Carter confirms. I nod.

"I jumped down there, Christian followed me down, and here we are."

"So the giants are rising?" Carter asks with a frown.

"Lead by Gaea." Christian confirms "And there's a lot more to it than that. Mira, Jason and Percy went missing while you were on your mission. When I returned I got an eagle from Reyna asking me to keep an eye out for Jason. Then an IM from Annabeth asking me to keep an eye out for Percy. Guess who was at Camp Half Blood though?"

"Jason," I answer while my stomach sinks. "Juno's bringing them together for the Prophecy of Seven. So Percy is...?"

"Probably running with the wolves." Christian says quietly. "Octavian's trying to push his way into the open Praetor slot. Reyna's been sending messages for a while, asking me if I'd consider returning to help in the upcoming battle. They're getting disturbing auguries about a big battle looming ahead."

"So she's begging for help the Roman way, which is pretending you don't need it?" Carter asks. I nod in confirmation. I'm still worried about Octavian.

"If Octavian comes to power, and Percy shows up at the Legion. They may end up fighting each other instead of Gaea." Carter looks lost again. I mentally curse myself for my stupidness. "Carter there's a few other names you need to know. I'd tell you their stories but I'd have to skim just like mine."

"You skimmed?" Carter asks.

"I could have told about several of my quests. But we'd be here for a week. A month if I try to tell you the full stories for these other people. So Second Titan War in a nutshell including names of important people, some alive and some dead now. Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, eldest child of the eldest gods. She got out of the prophecy by joining the Hunters of Artemis. She's eternally 15 and 364 days old. Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, the actually prophecy child, Saviour of Olympus. Despite the prophecy he's still alive. He's a leader of Camp Half Blood along with his girlfriend Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. He's powerful, like he could beat you Carter, powerful."

Carter looks scared for a split second then nods. "Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. Technically he's Thalia's full brother but he's Roman, not Greek. Current Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, he got the spot a few months ago when Christian stepped down. He was the big hero on the Roman side. They marched on the Titan's base and Jason defeated the titan Krios. Meanwhile the Greeks defended all of Manhattan and Olympus. Percy defeated Kronos." I'm interrupted by Christian making a weird noise and looks at me funny. It occurs to me that he didn't know that. He thought they defeated all the titans by taking down their base.

"Then you've got Reyna, she's the other current Praetor. Daughter of Bellona, the Roman war goddess. Then there's Nico Di Angelo, he went solo when his older sister Bianca was killed on a quest. Both children of Hades. He's on good terms with Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter's kinda wary of him. And lastly Octavian, grandson of Apollo. He's not much a fighter but he's got a snake's tongue and he wants to be praetor."

"The problem, Carter, is that Octavian is convinced the Greeks are out there plotting to attack Camp Jupiter. Everyone thinks he's wrong. And now the leaders of both camps have switched places. Octavian will take the Legion to war against the Greeks. And in the process someone stupid stumbles into Brooklyn or the Olympians themselves reveal what's here in Brooklyn. Who do you think Octavian's going to label as an enemy?" Christian doesn't have to say anymore than that.

"Us," Carter answers breathlessly. "And you're related to him?"

"Unfortunately. The one perk is I'm the only one who can get him to shut the heck up which is useful." That in and of itself was considered a superpower at Camp Jupiter. Christian's ability to control Octavian was greatly envied.

Carter gets us back on track by asking, "But who says they'll go to war?"

"That's the cycle," I explain. "First the titans, then the giants, and finally the mortal enemies. Rome conquered Greece and then marched on Egypt. We're half way through the cycle. History repeats itself," I stop for a moment. "This sucks!" I smack the ground with my hands. "There has to be a way to prevent it."

"It hasn't even started yet." Carter points out, trying to sound optimistic. "It might not happen for another couple hundred years."

"Fat chance," I snort. "By next summer we'll be at each other's throats."

"Lets let the Second Giant War play out first." Christian suggests. "After maybe you guys can jump on the chance of peace negotiations."

"That's not going to happen," Carter says looking rather grim. "You almost killed one of our magicians after presumably kidnapping her. There are members of the House who won't take kindly to that. The gods would be outraged, Horus would declare war right now. And there are members of the House who are secretly still agents of Chaos. They'd probably try to sabotage peace attempts if they knew."

"We need answers. What's that 'voice' you hear Mira? How'd you end up on Olympus? When will the worlds clash?" Christian fiddles his car keys while he lists his questions.

"I can do some research," Carter offers. "It'd be easier if Thoth was around and we could just go ask him. I've got a theory for the first question though. I think it represents the natural hate between our two worlds. Its instinct to fight each other. And I think the same thing happened to Christian and I only we didn't know what we were doing until it was over." I named my inner hate for the boy I like after a tv show. I think that takes the cake for weirdest thing that's happened today.

"That sounds right," Christian says with a frown. "Once you identify someone as an enemy your first instinct is to kill them. There's gotta be some kind of trigger. Like either knowing the other person's from Rome or Egypt like Mira knew about me or starting a fight, like you and me Carter."

"It makes sense, but why can I fight it and you guys can't?" Neither of them have an answer or theory to my question. "And how did I end up on Olympus? Why? Did they know I was a magician? If not, why?" More answerless and theoryless questions. "I at least want to try and figure out who my parents are and if they're still alive."

"That's easier," Carter says finally. "I can scry my Uncle Amos and request that he send the records of all family trees for the past twenty years. Then we just have to sort through and find missing daughter."

"And if you can't find her?" Christian asks.

"What do you mean?" Carter asks. I bit my lip, I think I know what Christian's asking.

"If her parents aren't on record. Or..." Christian trails off while looking at me. I meet his sky blue eyes and complete his thought.

"There's a place in the desert where time stands still." I finish. "If the gods kidnapped me ages ago and brought me out now?"

"I think that can be ruled out," Carter answers. "Because then the Olympians would know you're a magician. Why would they want a magician if you're they're enemies? If they were going to use you against us then they would have had to keep you alive." He's got a point there. But then something occurs to me that's worse.

"Guys, what if my death is meant to start the war?" I ask with a shudder. The death of a magician for no reason. If the Olympians owned up to it would it be enough to send the House to war?

"They would have waited longer," Christian tries to reassure me. "The flip side is if they knew you were alive and let you run into Brooklyn assuming you'd stumble onto the magicians. Then they can accuse you of being a traitor to get the Legion riled up and confess to almost killing you to get the House mad."

"And the Greeks?" Carter asks.

"If they stand against Rome, then there will be a lot of bloodshed. If they march with the Legion, there will be a lot of bloodshed." Christian concludes.

"How much?" Please shut up Carter, isn't this dark enough?

"The American Civil War was when the Greeks and Romans were separated." I supply even though I'd rather not talk about death tonight. "It was bloodier for the demigods than the Americans. I don't know the last time Egypt clashed with the Olympians. I'd assume its all the way back in ancient times, the first time there ever was conflict."

"That didn't end well for Egypt." Carter says darkly.

"No, it didn't." I agree. The three of us sit on the roof, staring at the stars for a while longer. I feel like I'm in the darkness of Tartarus again.

"What now?" Christian finally asks.

"Bedtime?" I suggest. I'll dream tonight, I know that for sure. Its going to suck. And I've got to explain where I was to Sadie and Jaz and everyone else. I groan out loud without realizing it.

"What's wrong?" Christian asks while inspecting me as if I'm about to pass out. He puts a hand on my forehead and feels for my pulse with his other hand.

"Are we telling the rest of Brooklyn House this tonight Carter? Or are we going to come up with a stellar lie to tell?" Carter hesitates. Christian's hands drop away which disappoints me just a little.

"Not tonight for sure. But soon." I thank the gods silently. I don't want to tell this story again tonight.

"Let me do the lying though, I'm better at it." I tell him. Sadie will see through him in a few seconds if he tries to come up with a lie.

"Not going to argue with that," Carter says. He gets to his feet and hesitate some more. I think he's got one more question to ask. I can see it in his eyes. I think he decides not to ask it. Instead his slips his sword back into the Duat and walks toward the edge of the roof.

"You want to know who I'll fight for." I turn around and see Christian got to his feet too. He's staring at Carter's back. Carter turns around and nods. I sit there looking up at both of them. There's no doubt in my mind but there's a lot in Carter's. "I chose Mira over the Legion. I'll fight for Egypt if the worlds clash in a war."

There's a loud whoosh as Christian's arm burst into flames. I jump to my feet but I'm not fast enough. By the time I grab his arm the flames are gone...so is his tattoo. I flip his arm over and run my fingers over the now clear spot. There's no trace, not even a scar. I can sense powerful magic at work though.

"Carter?" I demand. I have no clue what the hell just happened.

"I'm clueless too." He says while holding his hands up.

"Well it hurt worse than when I got the stupid thing," Christian says through clenched teeth. I let my hand drop and he grabs the area with his other hand.

"Well there's one more question to add to the list." I say with a shrug. "Now lets go to bed before we get any more questions. I've maxed out my limit of confusion tonight. "Besides, some of us need sleep." I say with a grin, "we can't all be sunflowers." Christian groans while I smirk. Even Carter laughs once. He looks at the two of us and then takes a step back.

"I'll meet you back at the House, Mira," he jumps off the edge of the roof just as he starts to shift into a bird. I turn around and look up at Christian. With the stars around him and the smile on his face I don't notice he's holding something out to me until he speaks. I snap halfway out of it, I'm still kinda lost in his eyes.

"This is yours," He says offering a thin chain with a sun charm on it. Christian kneels down to refasten it around my ankle. It takes all I have not to blush and smile like a dumb, love-struck Aphrodite girl. He stands up and gives me one of those grins that makes my head spin.

"This is yours," I say bravely. I stand up an tip toe and kiss him.

**AN: right well everyone should be happy. We've gotten a good deal of action, explanations, Chaos, and some romance. Read on and review!**

**Q: How many years has Reyna been with the Legion?**


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